MASSACHUSETTS 
Commonwealth  of 


Report  of  Board  of  Education 
on  Agricultural  Education 


GIFT  OF 


THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

REPORT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF 
EDUCATION  ON  AGRI- 
CULTURAL EDUCATION 


Submitted  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  of  1911,  in 
accordance  with  Chapters  108  and  133,  Resolves  of  1910 


REPORT 


OF    THE 


**w~a$OAm)  OF  EDUCATION 


MASSACHUSETTS 


ON 


AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION, 


SUBMITTED  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  IN 

ACCORDANCE  WITH  RESOLVES  APPROVED 

MAY  28  AND  JUNE  10,  1910. 


JANUARY,  1911. 


BOSTON: 
WRIGHT  &  POTTER  PRINTING  CO.,  STATE  PRINTERS, 

18  POST  OFFICE  SQUARE. 
1911. 


CONTENTS. 


Submission  of  the  Report  to  the  Legislature,       * .          .          .          .  5 

I.  —  Preliminary  Statements,  Summary  of  the  Report  and  Recommen- 
dations,         ..........          7 

II.  —  Does    Massachusetts   Farming   warrant   the   Establishment   of   a 

System  of  Agricultural  Schools?      ......         12 

III.  —  The  System  of  Agricultural  Schools  recommended  for  Massachu- 

setts,      21 

IV.  —  Co-operation  between  School  and  Home  Farm  Necessary  to  an 

Effective  System  of  Agricultural  Schools  for  Massachusetts,     .         35 
V.  —  The   Part-time   and   Project   Method   Necessary  to   an   Effective 

System  of  Agricultural  Schools  for  Massachusetts,  .          .         41 

VI.  —  The   Problem   of  securing   Competent   Instructors  for  a   System       * 

of  Agricultural  Schools  in  Massachusetts,          ....         62 
VII.  —  Agricultural  Departments  in  Public  High  Schools  the  Principal 

Present  Need  in  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Education,    .          .         66 
VIII.  —  Possible  Locations  for  Agricultural  Schools  or  Departments,  .         74 

IX.  —  Recommendation    with    regard    to    Agricultural    Education     for 

Worcester, 86 

X.  —  Agriculture  as  a  Phase  of  Liberal  Education  in  the  High  Schools 

of  Massachusetts,  ........         87 

XI.  —  Agriculture  as  a  Phase  of  Liberal  Education  in  the  Elementary 

Schools  of  Massachusetts,        .......         93 

APPENDIX. 

Proposed   Codification   of  the   Law   relating  to   Industrial,   Agri- 
cultural and  Household  Arts  Education,  100 


€0tttm0ncoealtJ)  of 


REPORT  ON 
AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION. 


To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  chapters  108  and  133, 
Resolves  of  1910,  concerning  the  advisability  of  establishing  a 
system  of  agricultural  schools  throughout  the  Commonwealth, 
and  concerning  the  practicability  and  desirability  of  establish- 
ing a  farm  school  in  the  city  of  Worcester,  the  Board  of 
Education  herewith  reports  the  results  of  investigations  and 
recommendations,  made  under  its  direction  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Education,  David  Snedden,  Deputy  Commissioner  Charles 
A.  Prosser  and  Special  Agent  Rufus  W.  Stimson. 

The  Board  adopts  the  report  and  endorses  the  recommenda- 
tions. 

FREDERICK  P.  FISH,  Chairman, 
SARAH  LOUISE  ARNOLD, 
ELLA  LYMAN  CABOT, 
SIMEON  B.  CHASE, 
LEVI  L.  CONANT, 
THOMAS  B.  EITZPATRICK, 
FREDERICK  W.  HAMILTON, 
PAUL  H.  HANUS, 
CLINTON  Q.  RICHMOND, 

Members  of  the  Board. 
JAN.  1,  1911. 


PRELIMINARY  STATEMENTS,  SUMMARY  OF  THE  REPORT 
AND  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Following  is  the  text  of  the  resolves  passed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture :  — 

RESOLVES  OF  1910,  CHAPTER  108. 

Eesolved,  That  the  state  board  of  education  shall  investigate  the  prac- 
ticability and  desirability  of  establishing  a  farm  school  in  the  city  of 
Worcester  in  which  instruction  may  be  given,  free,  in  the  raising  of 
fruits,  vegetables,  flowers,  grains,  plants  and  trees,  and  in  the  care 
of  domestic  animals,  and  in  which  similar  instruction  suitable  to  their 
years  may  be  given  to  children.  The  board  shall  report  in  print  to  the 
general  court,  with  such  recommendations  as  it  may  deem  proper,  not 
later  than  January  fifth,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven.  [Approved 
May  28,  1910. 

RESOLVES  OF  1910,  CHAPTER  133. 

Resolved,  That  the  board  of  education  is  hereby  authorized  and  di- 
rected to  investigate  the  advisability  of  establishing  a  system  of  agri- 
cultural schools  throughout  the  commonwealth,  and  to  report  the  result 
of  its  investigation  with  its  recommendations  to  the  next  general  court 
not  later  than  the  second  Wednesday  in  January,  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven.  [Approved  June  10,  1910. 

In  obedience  to  these  resolves,  the  Board  of  Education  di- 
rected the  Commissioner  of  Education  to  make  the  necessary 
investigations  and  to  engage  expert  assistance.  Mr.  Eufus  W. 
Stimson,  director  of  Smith's  Agricultural  School  and  North- 
ampton School  of  Industries,  was  appointed  to  assist  in  making 
the  investigations  and  preparing  the  report. 

Special  acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  the  assistance  of 
the  following:  President  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield  and  members 
of  the  faculty  of  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College;  Secre- 
tary J.  Lewis  Ellsworth  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture; 
Mr.  Dick  J.  Crosby,  specialist,  and  Mr.  E.  W.  Howe,  assist- 
ant specialist,  in  agricultural  education,  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Office  of  Experiment  Stations ;  Mr. 


8 

Arthur  C.  Monahan,  agricultural  specialist  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  EdiK-aUon ;  the  Ron.  0.  D.  Richardson,  Past  Master, 
and  the  Hon.  Charles  M.  Gardner,  Master,  of  the  Massachu- 
setts State  Grange;  and  many  other  citizens  of  Massachusetts. 

A  brief  survey  has  been  made  of  the  development  of  agri- 
cultural education  in  Massachusetts  and  like  work  elsewhere. 
The  economic  status  and  prospects  of  farming,  as  conducted  by 
both  men  and  women,  in  this  State,  have  been  examined. 

Selected  and  typical  centers  have  been  studied,  as  to  the  facil- 
ities for  transportation,  as  to  the  most  promising  lines  of  farm- 
ing in  practice,  and  as  to  the  probable  enrollment  in  an 
agricultural  school  or  department.  All  parts  of  the  State  have 
thus  received  attention,  with  the  exception  of  the  islands  of 
Dukes  and  RTantucket.  It  will  be  easily  understood  that  this 
report  can  deal  only  in  general  terms  with  the  results  of  these 
local  investigations. 

Printed  sources  of  information  have  been  used,  and  confer- 
ences have  been  held  both  with  groups  and  with  individuals. 
By  far  the  largest  number  of  consultations  have  been  held  on 
their  own  premises  with  farmers  who  are  obtaining  their  liv- 
ing from  their  agricultural  work,  and  who  are  regarded  by  their 
communities  as  sound  in  judgment,  methods  and  ideas. 

No  serious  appraisement  of  educational  needs  and  values  has 
been  undertaken,  beyond  the  strict  limits  of  agricultural  train- 
ing adapted  to  youths  from  fourteen  years  of  age  upward. 
In  fact,  attention  has  been  almost  exclusively  confined  to  agri- 
cultural education  suitable  for  boys,  and  perhaps  for  some  girls, 
who  intend  to  follow  farming  for  a  livelihood,  and  who,  but  for 
the  type  of  training  recommended  in  this  report,  probably  would 
follow  the  practice  of  a  long  line  of  their  predecessors,  and  drop 
out  of  school  altogether. 

Provision  of  agricultural  education  for  girls  who  have  passed 
their  fourteenth  birthday  has  been  considered.  This  problem 
raises  very  important  questions,  both  educational  and  economic. 
There  is  little  experience,  so  far,  by  which  to  be  guided.  It  is 
believed,  therefore,  that  this  subject  should  be  further  investi- 
gated, and  that  the  questions  involved  can  best  be  answered  by 
actual  experiments  made  in  connection  with  the  agricultural 
schools  and  departments  proposed  in  this  report. 


FINDINGS  IN  BKIEF. 

The  agricultural  and  educational  conditions  in  this  Common- 
wealth are  believed  to  warrant  the  following  conclusions :  - 

1.  Farming  in  Massachusetts  is  a  highly  important  vocation. 

2.  Massachusetts  farming,  where  most  profitably  practiced,  is 
peculiarly  dependent  upon,  and  responsive  to,  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  improved  methods.     Its  increasing  diversity  and  spe- 
cialization, which  are  such  promising  elements  in  its  progress, 
make  more  difficult  the  task  of  preparation  for  it,  and  make 
more  emphatic  the  duty  of  the  State  to  the  boys  and  girls  who 
are  to  follow  it. 

3.  Agencies  for  carrying  scientific  knowledge  and  improved 
methods  to  adults,  and  to  students  of  such  age  and  preliminary 
training  as  to  enable  them  to  meet  the  usual  college  entrance 
requirements,  appear  to  have  been  both  carefully  considered 
and  fairly  well  established. 

4.  There  is  a  decided  lack  of,  and  a  pronounced  demand  for, 
agricultural  training  of  a  scientific  and  very  practical  character, 
suitable  for  boys,  and  perhaps  for  some  girls,  fourteen  years  of 
age  and  older,  who  expect  to  gain  their  livelihood  from,  and  to 
spend  their  lives  on,  Massachusetts  farms. 

5.  The  growing  commercial  and  industrial  school  facilities 
open  to  boys  and  girls  fourteen  years  of  age  and  older,  tend  to 
lure  away  from  the  land  and  into  the  congested  centers,  in  the 
absence   of   competent   and   attractive   agricultural   education, 
many  young  people  whose  natural  aptitudes  would  make  them,  if 
properly  trained,  better  and  more  prosperous  citizens  in  the 
country. 

6.  Financial    aid    for    agricultural    education,    suitable    for 
adults  and  for  college  students,  has  for  a  half-century  been  fur- 
nished by  this  Commonwealth  and  by  the  federal  government. 
State  aid  for  vocational  training  of  secondary  grade  in  agricul- 
ture, is,  moreover,  entirely  in  keeping  with  State  aid  for  inde- 
pendent industrial  school  work,  and  to  some  extent  was  provided 
for  by  chapter  505  of  the  Acts  of  1906  and  chapter  572  of  the 
Acts  of  1908. 

7.  The  slow  development  of  secondary  agricultural  schools, 
the  testimony  of  farmers  throughout  the  State,  and  the  demand 


10 

for  the  investigation  here  reported  which  was  made  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  1910,  are  evidence  of  the  need  of  additional  legislation 
providing  for  this  kind  of  agricultural  education. 

8.  School   committees  have  long  been   authorized   and   em- 
powered to  provide  instruction  in  agriculture  in  the  public  ele- 
mentary and  high  schools  of  the  State.    While  this  training  has 
been  more  liberal  and  cultural  than  vocational  in  its  aims  and 
results,  it  merits  the  hearty  support  of  local  communities  in  this 
Commonwealth. 

Instruction  in  gardening  and  in  other  matters  relating  to  the 
farm  should  be  encouraged  and  guided  in  all  the  elementary 
schools  of  the  State,  where  the  home  environment  or  the  school 
facilities  make  productive  work  and  personal  observation  by  the 
pupils  practicable. 

As  an  important  aid  to  liberal  education  in  all  of  the  high 
schools  of  the  State,  particularly  in  those  which  have  a  rural 
environment,  guidance  and  encouragement  should  be  given,  with 
a  view  to  the  incorporation  of  generous  proportions  of  agricul- 
tural subject  matter  in  the  science  instruction,  and  to  the  sym- 
pathetic correlation  of  certain  parts  of  the  instruction  in  English, 
history,  civics  and  hygiene  with  rural  life  and  labor,  institutions 
and  progress. 

9.  In  order  that  more  adequate  school  facilities  may  be  pro- 
vided in  this  Commonwealth  for  preparing  those  above  fourteen 
years  of  age  for  productive  and  profitable  farming,  vocational 
agricultural  departments  are  proposed  in  this  report  for  estab- 
lishment in  existing  high  schools. 

The  methods  and  vocational  standards  of  instruction  for  the 
development  of  such  agricultural  departments  have  nowhere 
been  tried  in  the  exact  form  proposed  in  this  report.  Such 
approximations  to  this  kind  of  training  as  have  been  found  in 
this  State  and  elsewhere,  and  the  very  general  interest  in 
and  approval  of  it  found  among  representative  Massachusetts 
farmers  with  whom  it  has  been  discussed,  are  believed  to  war- 
rant giving  the  department  type  a  thorough  trial. 

The  experimental  character  of  the  department  type,  it  will 
be  noticed,  has  been  recognized  in  the  proposed  codification  of 
the  law.  It  is  designed  that  the  problems  which  would  con- 
front such  departments  shall  be  carefully  studied,  that  their 
work  shall  be  thoroughly  done,  and  that  no  department  shall 


11 

be  attempted  where  conditions  for  success  are  not  reasonably 
favorable. 

While  annual  State  aid  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  might 
make  ten  departments  possible,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
it  would  be  found  advisable  to  establish  ten  departments,  or 
even  five,  the  first  year.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  proposed 
department  type  of  agricultural  training  should  prove  in  actual 
use  to  embody  the  merit  which  it  is  believed  to  possess,  pro- 
vision for  increasing  the  number  beyond  ten  could  in  future 
be  made. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

In  view,  then,  of  the  needs  of  the  State  as-  we  have  found 
them,  the  following  three  recommendations  are  respectfully 
submitted :  — 

1.  We  recommend  that  State  aid,  equal  to  that  granted  any 
town,  or  group  of  towns  constituting  a  district,  for  industrial 
schools,  be  continued  as  at  present  provided  for  in  the  case  of 
any  town,  or  group  of  towns  constituting  a  district,  for  the  estab- 
lishment and  maintenance  of  an  independent  agricultural  school. 
(See  chapter  505,  Acts  of  1906,  and  chapter  572,  Acts  of  1908.) 

2.  We  recommend  that  provision  be  made  for  the  establish- 
ment of  agricultural  departments  in  existing  high  schools,  with 
State  aid,  and  with  rigid  definition  and  enforcement  of  voca- 
tional standards. 

3.  We  recommend  that  the  above  provisions  shall  be  con- 
sidered to  be  sufficient  for  meeting  the  needs  of  Worcester,  in 
common  with  those  of  all  other  parts  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and,  therefore,  to  obviate  all  necessity  for  special  legislation  on 
behalf  of  that  city. 

The  above  recommendations  are,  of  course,  to  be  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  this  entire  report. 

PROPOSED  LEGISLATION. 

The  Board  is  submitting  to  the  General  Court  a  proposed 
codification  of  legislation  relating  to  industrial,  agricultural  and 
household  arts  education.  In  that  codification  is  included  what 
is  believed  to  be  ample  legal  provision  for  the  establishment  of  a 
system  of  agricultural  schools. 

For  convenient  reference,  a  copy  of  the  proposed  codifica- 
tion is  bound  herewith  as  an  Appendix. 


12 


II. 

DOES   MASSACHUSETTS   FARMING  WARRANT 

THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF  A  SYSTEM   OF 

AGRICULTURAL   SCHOOLS? 

Does  farming  in  Massachusetts  offer  sufficiently  important 
and  attractive  careers  to  warrant  the  establishment  of  a  sys- 
tem of  agricultural  schools  in  this  Commonwealth,  to  train 
boys  and  girls  who  have  reached  their  fourteenth  birthday  for 
farm  life  and  work  ?  The  present  chapter  briefly  reviews  farm- 
ing incentives  and  prospects  as  they  are  found  in  this  State 
to-day. 

1.  Incentives  to  Farming  in  Massachusetts  are  Many.  —  In 
a  given  farming  enterprise  there  may  be  blended  any  two  or 
three,  or  there  may  be  blended  all,  of  the  incentives  which  make 
farming  in  this  State  attractive. 

(1)  The  stress  and  uncertainties  of  other  callings  lead  many 
to  engage  in  farming.  Severe  competition  and  uncertainty  as 
to  the  future  in  business  have  resulted  in  the  purchase  and 
development  of  Massachusetts  farm  land.  Prospects  for  a 
profitable  investment,  a  stable  occupation  and  a  lifelong  employ- 
ment at  congenial  work  are  incentives  to  redirection  of  effort 
in  such  a  case. 

A  section  of  this  State  was  pointed  out,  during  the  investi- 
gation leading  to  this  report,  which  was  said  to  have  been  bought 
up,  one  small  holding  after  another,  by  "  broken-down  me- 
chanics." It  might  be  fairly  considered  one  of  the  least 
promising  sections  for  farming.  The  operations  undertaken 
were  on  a  small  scale;  in  no  instance  on  a  large  one.  Health 
and  vigor,  and  self-sustaining  life  for  their  children  and  them- 
selves, free  from  the  severe  competition  in  the  trades  and 
industries,  were  the  primary  incentives  in  these  cases. 

Farming  in  Massachusetts  has  become  increasingly  attract- 
ive to  immigrants  who  have  left  the  old  world  and  come  here 
with  the  determination  to  succeed.  These  immigrants  are  not 
so  much  peasants  as  they  are  pioneers.  They  are  thrifty  and 
observant;  they  are  quick  to  adopt  new  ideas  and  methods. 


13 

Money  is  saved  and  invested.  Theirs  is  a  program  of  hope. 
As  their  savings  and  their  holdings  increase  in  value,  their 
standards  of  living  rise;  they  begin  to  educate  their  children, 
and  presently  are  on  a  level  with  other  good  citizens  in  their 
communities. 

(2)  The  attractions  and  associations  in  the  family  are  strong 
motives  with  many.     Farm  after  farm  is  owned  and  operated 
now  by  the  same  family,  in  whose  ancestral  line  it  has  remained 
for  eight  or  even  nine  generations. 

(3)  The  natural  charm  of  the  country  may  be  said  to  be  the 
motive  for  the  establishment  of  the  growing  number  of  more  or 
less  magnificent  estates  in  Massachusetts.     The  North  Shore, 
the  South  Shore  and  the  Berkshires  are  noted  for  the  men  from 
the  great  cities  and  even  from  distant  States  who  have  sought 
Massachusetts  land  for  its  picturesque  actualities  and  possibili- 
ties. 

Most  of  these  estates  possess  well-rounded  agricultural  equip- 
ment, and  have  created  a  large  demand  for  skilled  gardeners, 
florists,  fruit  growers,  herdsmen,  grooms  and  trainers.  They 
employ  expert  farm  managers,  and  supply  their  own  tables  with 
the  cleanest  milk  and  the  choicest  farm,  garden,  orchard  and 
greenhouse  products.  The  stables  of  at  least  one  of  these  estates 
shelter  harness  horse  championship  winners  in  international 
competitions.  The  owners  pay  the  highest  prices  for  the  best- 
bred  live  stock,  and  in  notable  instances  have  put  their  farming 
operations  on  a  strictly  economic  basis,  as  object  lessons  for 
neighboring  farmers. 

Beside  and  among  these  more  splendid  estates  there  is  a  mul- 
titude of  simpler  establishments,  maintained  on  a  more  modest 
scale,  for  like  purposes. 

Sometimes  one  hears  the  protest  that  such  estates  are,  as  a 
whole,  detrimental  to  the  public  good.  Whatever  may  or  may 
not  be  the  merits  of  this  contention  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  community  at  large,  it  is  certain  that  their  establishment 
cannot  at  present  be  regarded  as  detrimental  to  the  interests  of 
those  who  must  be  dependent  upon  farming  for  a  livelihood. 

(4)  A  life  pursuit  to  be  found  in  farming  is  the  compelling 
incentive  of  many  people  who  engage  in  agriculture.  This 
State  has  its  misfits  and  failures  on  farms,  as  in  every  other 


14 

line  of  human  activity;  but  it  also  has  farmers  who  love, 
and  are  finding  profitable,  the  careers  on  the  land  which  they 
have  chosen.  The  success  of  the  latter  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
two  causes:  (a)  to  a  fundamental  liking  for  the  land  and  all 
the  natural  accompaniments  of  its  cultivation;  and  (b)  to  the 
economic  status  and  prospects  of  farming  in  this  Common- 
wealth, discussed  in  the  following  section.  The  investigations 
on  which  this  report  is  based  yielded  abundant  and  convincing 
evidence  that  Massachusetts  farmers  believe,  not  only  that  farm- 
ing in  general  offers  a  desirable  career,  but  also  that  those  who 
intend  to  make  farming  a  life  pursuit  in  this  State  will  find 
themselves  put  to  no  serious  disadvantage  because  their  lot  is 
to  be  cast  in  this  Commonwealth. 

2.  Farming  prospects  are  good,  and  are  steadily  improving. 
Having  glanced  over  some  of  the  incentives  which  have  led 
men  to  engage  in  farming  operations,  we  may  now  consider 
certain  facts  and  figures  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  agri- 
culture in  this  State. 

(1)  The  agricultural  census   of  Massachusetts  shows   that 
farming  prospects  are  good.     The  Massachusetts  State  census 
for  1905  reported  the  value  of  property  devoted  to  agricul- 
ture in  general  in  this  State  as  $288,153,000.     The  annual 
farming  output  was  valued  at  $73,110,000.     The  growth  of 
agriculture  in  importance  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  1875 
the  total  value  of  output  was  $37,073,000;  in  1885,  $47,756,- 
000;  in  1895,  $52,880,000;  and  in  1905,  $73,110,000. 

In  1905  the  value  of  the  agricultural  products  of  Worcester 
County  was  reported  as  $14,279,000 ;  and  of  the  city  of  Worces- 
ter alone  as  $1,491,000. 

There  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  State  census  figures 
for  1910  would  show  retrogression.  In  three  decades,  ended 
in  1905,  the  annual  value  of  agricultural  products  in  this  State 
had  practically  doubled.  The  United  States  census  may  not 
show  large  additions  to  the  agricultural  population  of  this 
Commonwealth,  but  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  show 
gains,  at  least  commensurate  with  those  of  the  last  generation, 
in  the  annual  value  of  Massachusetts  agricultural  products. 

(2)  Massachusetts  farmers  say  farming  prospects  are  promis- 
ing.   Most  of  the  conferences  held  in  preparation  for  this  report 


15 

were  personal  interviews  with  Massachusetts  farmers  on  their 
own  premises,  —  farmers  who  are  regarded  by  their  communities 
as  thoroughly  reliable,  and  who  are  dependent  on  their  farming 
for  a  living.  In  all  sections  of  the  State  the  prevailing  opinion 
is  that  no  State  offers  a  better  opportunity  for  profitable  agri- 
culture and  a  satisfactory  home  life  on  the  farm  than  does 
Massachusetts.  This  was  shown  by  statements  such  as  the 
following :  — 

"  We  have  good  land."  "  We  have  the  best  markets  in  the  world." 
"  We  have  good  roads  and  short  hauls."  "  We  have  excellent  shipping 
facilities,  and  the  cost  of  shipment  is  light  when  compared  with  the 
cost  of  shipping  produce  from  distant  points."  "  We  can  generally  get 
enough  good  help."  "  I  increase  my  market  garden  production  a  little 
every  year;  the  more  I  produce,  the  more  I  can  sell." 

"  The  cities  are  growing  so  much  faster  than  the  rate  of  increase  of 
production  from  the  land,  that  excessive  competition  is  not  to  be  feared, 
and  prices  for  prime  farm  products  are  bound  to  continue  good  and 
are  likely  to  become  better."  "  The  great  variety  of  soils  and  products 
is  favorable  to  satisfactory  farming,  taking  one  year  with  another,  in 
this  State."  "  A  keen  eye  to  the  markets,  and  shipment  to  New  York 
or  other  out-of-the-State  points,  when  prices  rule  low  here  and  high 
there,  take  care  of  any  temporary  surplus  or  slump  in  home  market 
prices."  "  For  choice  fruit  there  are  almost  unbelievable  possibilities 
in  the  home  market,  with  the  port  of  Boston  ready  for  shipment  of 
practically  unlimited  quantities,  especially  of  apples,  to  foreign 
markets." 

"  We  have  good  libraries,  public  schools  and  churches."  "  The  Grange 
in  Massachusetts  is  a  splendid  organization  for  getting  the  farmers 
together  for  pleasure  and  the  improvement  of  their  life  and  work." 

Such  are  the  things  said  by  the  farmers  themselves  of  the 
advantages  of  farming  in  this  State. 

(3)  The  small  number  of  abandoned  farms  shows  farming 
prospects  to  be  improving.  Secretary  Ellsworth  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  now  has  in  press  a  report  of  160  pages, 
entitled  "  Massachusetts,  her  Agricultural  Eesources,  Advan- 
tages and  Opportunities,  with  a  List  of  Farms  for  Sale."  The 
publication  of  this  report  at  just  this  moment  is  singularly  op- 
portune, and  makes  unnecessary  any  extended  treatment  in  this 
chapter  of  the  subject  now  touched  upon. 

In  his  preface  Secretary  Ellsworth  says  that  his  publication 


16 

is  issued  at  the  beginning  of  an  exceptional  era  in  Massachusetts  agri- 
culture. .  .  .  While  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  names  of  parties 
owning  or  controlling  strictly  abandoned  farms,  the  attempt  was  in- 
effectual, and  we  are  forced  to  confess  that  in  our  belief  there  are  few 
such  farms  in  the  State.  Nevertheless,  reports  confirm  the  opinion  that 
there  is  an  enormous  amount  of  land  lying  idle  or  partly  deserted,  and 
that  many  farms  are  not  worked  to  anywhere  near  their  limit. 

(4)  Improved  tillage  makes  farming  prospects  better.     Mas- 
sachusetts  land   is   remarkably   responsive   to  better   farming. 
Land  once  tilled  but  now  lying  for  the  moment  largely  or  even 
entirely  neglected  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  sign  post  of  dor- 
mant fertility.    Such  land  is  simply  resting.    Striking  examples 
of  this  fact  came  to  view  during  the  investigation  the  past  sum- 
mer.    One  instance  may  suffice  for  the  present  purpose,  and  the 
fact  that  this  is  furnished  by  the  work  of  a  woman  whose  farm 
was  visited  renders  it  none  the  less  significant. 

The  owner  of  an  intensively  tilled  farm,  with  a  model  dairy 
and  well-developed  piggery,  poultry,  market-garden  and  green- 
house departments,  desired  to  increase  her  output.  She  therefore 
bought  a  20-acre  field.  This  lay  next  adjoining  her  own  im- 
proved land,  but  had  not  been  cropped  within  the  memory  of 
the  oldest  inhabitant  of  that  section,  —  not  for  at  least  sixty 
years,  and  probably  not  for  more  than  a  century.  It  was 
sparsely  strewn  with  wild  grass,  gray  moss,  sweet  fern  and  bay- 
berry.  The  former  owner  had  often  said  that  he  would  keep  a 
yoke  of  oxen  if  he  only  thought  he  could  grow  enough  feed  for 
them,  but  he  did  not  believe  he  could  do  it. 

The  past  summer,  its  first  season  in  tillage  at  the  hands  of  its 
present  owner,  this  field  yielded  10  acres  of  rye,  straw  and 
grain ;  250  bushels  of  splendid  potatoes ;  80  tons  of  ensilage,  now 
in  the  silo ;  2  acres  of  heavy  field  corn,  at  the  time  of  the  inter- 
view standing  in  the  shocks;  and  2  tons  of  sugar  pumpkins; 
while  at  the  time  the  field  was  visited  there  were  8  acres  in 
clover,  sown  in  the  rye  and  showing  a  good  "  catch,"  %-acre 
in  turnips,  with  the  remainder  of  the  field  laid  down  to  rye 
again. 

(5)  Increase  of  investments  in  land  shows  that  farming  is 
becoming  more  attractive  as  a  business  enterprise.     Keen  busi- 
ness sagacity  has  led  a  caterer  well  known  in  this   State  to 


17 

purchase  a  farm  and  develop  it  as  an  adjunct  to  his  city  busi- 
ness. His  farm  is  a  strictly  financial  proposition.  Though 
model  equipment  and  conditions  have  been  established,  he 
does  not  use  it  for  a  summer  residence,  and  his  visits  to  the 
farm  are  for  inspection  and  for  conference  with  his  manager. 
Strict  accounts  are  kept.  Waste  from  the  catering  kitchens 
is  sold  to  the  piggery  department.  Poultry,  market-garden,  pig- 
gery, fruit  and  dairy  products  are  sold  to  the  catering  ends  of  the 
combined  business.  The  books  show  that  the  farm  is  a  paying 
investment. 

"  Golden  New  England,"  by  Mr.  Sylvester  Baxter  ("  The 
Outlook/7  Sept.  24,  1910,  pages  179-190),  is  an  account  of 
the  status  and  prospects  of  farming  in  this  section.  Mr.  Bax- 
ter gives  the  following  instance :  — 

On  a  certain  Essex  County  place  a  Boston  business  man  has  gone 
into  apples  in  a  way  that  ranks  the  undertaking  as  a  great  business 
enterprise.  A  single  place,  with  something  like  50,000  apple  trees, 
not  only  cuts  a  large  figure  in  Massachusetts,  —  even  in  the  great  west 
it  would  mean  "  going  some." 

(6)  With  little  farms,,  intensive  farming  yields  large  returns. 
Contrasted  with  the  western  prairies,  the  smaller  fields  along 
and  among  the  hills  and  streams  of  Massachusetts  have  seemed  to 
some  impossible  of  profitable  cultivation.  By  them  it  is  even 
asserted  that  Massachusetts  is  "  not  an  agricultural  State." 
Such  a  remark  is  met  by  the  Massachusetts  farmer  with  a  blank 
look  of  amazement.  He  has  no  doubt  that  farming  in  this 
State  is  a  permanent  and  an  increasingly  important  vocation. 
He  knows  that  fundamental  to  advancing  agriculture  is  a 
market  commensurate  with  its  output;  and  he  sees  the  manu- 
facturing towns  in  his  neighborhood  growing  with  a  rapidity 
almost  beyond  belief. 

Even  in  the  west,  not  the  enormous  holding,  but  the  smaller 
one  is  now  recognized  as  the  more  promising  basis  for  the  most 
permanent  and  profitable  agricultural  production.  Evidence 
is  abundant  that  the  little  farm  may  yield  large  returns.  One 
of  the  tidiest  bits  of  farming  seen  the  past  summer  was  on  a 
10-acre  farm,  of  which  part  was  in  pasture  and  only  about  6 
acres  were  under  cultivation.  Some  of  the  land  was  tilted  on 


18 

edge,  in  typical  New  England  fashion.  All  of  the  fields  were 
more  or  less  irregular  in  their  boundaries,  and  from  some  of 
them  cartloads  of  stones  had  heen  removed,  with  more  to  fol- 
low. The  land  was  "  kept  busy."  Market  gardening  was  the 
main  feature,  but  there  was  fruit ;  and  there  were  "  side  lines  " 
of  dairying  and  poultry,  for  utilizing  "  clippings  "  and  unsal- 
able remnants  of  the  principal  products*  This  farm  is  yield- 
ing a  profit  of  $5,000  a  year. 

Other  farms  visited,  which  to  the  unaccustomed  eye  might 
look  small,  are  yielding  net  returns  of  from  $2,000  to  $10,000, 
and  even  $12,000,  a  year.  Greater  thrift  and  satisfaction  in 
work  well  done  one  could  not  hope  to  find  in  any  State. 

Mr.  Baxter,  in  the  article  above  cited,  gives  the  following 
instances :  — 

A  half-acre  strawberry  patch,  .  .  .  yields  5,000  quarts,  worth  $625. 
Eleven  hundred  dollars  have  come  from  an  acre  and  a  half  of  canta- 
loups. There  are  thousands  of  acres  in  asparagus  in  Massachusetts  alone, 
with  profits  of  $300  or  even  $600  an  acre.  An  Italian  makes  from 
$4,000  to  $5,000  a  year  off  of  4  acres  in  market  gardening.  Five  acres 
in  peaches  have  yielded  $2,500  in  one  year.  Apples!  That  is  a  story 
in  itself.  And  flowers?  Well,  there  is  a  lady  on  Cape  Cod  who  makes 
$200  or  so  every  summer  on  a  patch  of  sweet  peas  little  bigger  than 
a  city  back  yard.  As  for  potatoes  and  corn,  there  are  numerous  big 
records. 

(7)  Comparison  of  productivity  with  other  States  shows 
farming  prospects  to  be  good.  Secretary  Ellsworth,  in  the 
pamphlet  before  mentioned,  is  outspoken  and  explicit  in  his 
estimate  of  the  agricultural  prospects  of  Massachusetts.  This 
has  previously  been  intimated,  and  will  more  clearly  appear 
from  the  following  passage :  — 

.  .  .  when  ratio  of  aggregate  production  to  aggregate  acreage,  yield 
per  acre  of  certain  crops  and  character  of  tillage  are  considered,  Massa- 
chusetts ranks  favorably  with  the  leading  agricultural  States.  The 
following  data,  gleaned  from  the  latest  official  statistics,  add  strength 
to  this  statement :  — 

In  1900  Massachusetts  had  3,147,064  acres  in  farms,  which  yielded 
the  previous  year  $42,298,274  worth  of  farm  products.  As  compared 
with  the  five  leading  agricultural  States,  we  find  California,  with  nine 
times  this  number  of  acres  in  farms,  producing  only  three  times  as 


19 

many  dollars'  worth  of  farm  products;  Illinois,  with  ten  times -the 
farm  acreage,  producing  eight  times  as  many  dollars'  worth  of  farm 
products;  Iowa,  with  eleven  times  the  farm  acreage,  producing  nine 
times  as  many  dollars'  worth  of  farm  products;  Kansas,  with  thirteen 
times  the  farm  acreage,  producing  four  and  one-half  times  as  many 
dollars'  worth  of  farm  products;  and  Texas,  with  forty  times  the  farm 
acreage,  producing  five  times  as  many  dollars'  worth  of  farm  products. 

Further,  from  the  estimates  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  for  1908  these  striking  figures  are  obtained:  the  average 
production  per  acre  of  Indian  corn  for  the  United  States  was  26.2 
bushels;  for  Massachusetts,  40.4  bushels;  of  oats  for  the  United  States, 
25  bushels;  for  Massachusetts,  33  bushels;  of  potatoes  for  the  United 
States,  85.7  bushels;  for  Massachusetts,  95  bushels.  In  relative  rank 
of  production  per  acre,  Massachusetts  stands  among  the  States,  for  corn 
fourth,  for  oats  thirteenth,  for  potatoes  twelfth.  When  compared  with 
the  leading  States  in  these  products,  Massachusetts  ranks  in  production 
per  acre,  for  corn  fourth,  for  oats  first  and  for  potatoes  second. 

The  crops  used  for  comparison  are  not  the  leading  agricultural 
products  of  Massachusetts,  but  the  figures  indicate  what  the  intensive 
methods  of  agriculture  practiced  by  her  farmers  is  bringing  forth  from 
the  soil.  While  comparative  figures  for  other  States  of  those  products 
which  are  most  valuable  to  Massachusetts  are  not  available,  it  is  safe  to 
assert,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that,  whereas  the  production  per 
acre  of  such  field  crops  as  corn,  oats  and  potatoes  is  relatively  high,  the 
production  per  acre  of  fruits  and  other  vegetables  which  respond  so 
much  more  readily  to  intensive  treatment  is  not  exceeded  by  that  of 
any  other  State  of  the  same  or  higher  latitude. 

^  i 

3.  Conclusions.  —  It  is  believed,  in  short,  that  the  experience 
of  those  who  are  successfully  engaged  in  farming  here,  and  the 
economic  status  and  prospects  of  farming  in  this  Common- 
wealth, show  conclusively  that  exceptional  success  awaits  the 
work  of  the  exceptional  man  or  woman  in  this  field  of  economic 
activity;  and  that  farming  is  bound  to  afford  a  profitable  and 
satisfactory  living  for  the  average  boy  or  girl  who  enters  this 
field  with  a  thrifty,  alert  and  progressive  spirit,  and  with  a 
proper  preliminary  education. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  investigation  leading  to  this  report, 
the  question  was  raised  as  to  whether  a  system  of  agricultural 
schools  would  be  likely  to  result  in  increased  valuation  of 
taxable  property  on  farms,  and  thus  return  directly  to  the  public 
treasury  at  least  some  portion  of  its  cost.  One  farmer  put 
the  gist  of  the  answers  of  all  his  fellows  into  the  succinct  reply, 


20 

that  it  did  not  take  the  assessors  long  to  discover  any  improve- 
ments that  he  made  on  his  farm  as  a  result  of  better  methods. 
Finally,  it  appears  that  farming  in  Massachusetts,  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  both  its  present  status  and  its  prospects, 
is  a  calling  the  successful  pursuit  of  which  requires  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  science  that  lies  back  of  the  practice  of  agriculture 
as  a  handicraft;  that,  in  order  to  secure  a  widespread  pro- 
ductive and  profitable  agriculture,  it  is  necessary  that  voca- 
tional schools  supported  and  controlled  by  the  public  should 
train  the  youth  in  the  best  methods  of  farming ;  and  that  farm- 
ing in  Massachusetts  is  a  calling  of  sufficient  importance  to 
justify  both  local  and  State  support  of  those  forms  of  educa- 
tion that  will  effectively  prepare  boys,  and,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  girls,  for  it. 


21 


III. 

THE    SYSTEM    OF    AGRICULTURAL    SCHOOLS    RECOM- 
MENDED   FOR    MASSACHUSETTS. 

It  was  pointed  out  in  the  previous  chapter  that  the  condi- 
tion and  prospects  of  farming  in  Massachusetts  seem  to  justify 
a  system  of  agricultural  schools.  The  question  arises  as  to 
what  types  of  schools  are  desirable  for  this  Commonwealth. 
Two  promise  to  be  effective.  These  are  the  separate  or  inde- 
pendent agricultural  school,  and  the  agricultural  department  in 
the  public  high  school. 

1.     SEPARATE  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL. 

(1)  Definition  and  Examples.  —  The  separate  agricultural 
school  aims  to  promote,  by  education,  economic  farming.     Its 
location,  plant,  staff  and  courses  of  training  are  determined  by 
this  object.     Such  a  school  may,  or  may  not,  be  on  the  same 
site  with  an  institution  of  different  grade  or  type.     Whatever 
its  proximity  to  other  kinds  of  institutions,  it  requires  a  dis- 
tinctly agricultural  atmosphere  and  a  farming  environment. 

Instances  of  this  type  are:  Minnesota  Agricultural  School, 
St.  Anthony  Park ;  the  secondary  agricultural  courses  at  Guelph, 
Ont,  and  Storrs,  Conn. ;  and  Smith's  Agricultural  School, 
Northampton,  Mass. 

(2)  Minimum   Standards. — Present   experience   seems   to 
show  that  schools  designed  to  give  vocational  education  must 
meet  certain  minimum  requirements  in  order  to  do  effective 
work.     The  following  may  be  given  as  examples  of  such  re- 
quirements for  the  separate  agricultural  schools :  — 

A.  Location  and  Plant.  —  a.  Accessibility.  —  The  eco- 
nomic operation  of  a  separate  agricultural  school  and  its  use- 
fulness to  the  State  depend  upon  a  considerable  enrollment  of 
students.  Experience  demonstrates  that  an  attendance  of  less 
than  100  means  either  an  excessive  per  capita  cost  or  inferior 
teaching.  The  spot  selected  for  it,  therefore,  should  be  easily 
reached  from  a  considerable  farming  area. 


22 

5.  Acreage  and  Variety  of  Soil.  —  The  land  should  be  typi- 
cal of  the  surrounding  region,  and  permit  of  demonstration  of 
the  best  methods  of  farming  for  that  section  of  the  State.  If 
not  a  special  school,  devoted,  for  example,  to  market  gardening, 
it  should  have  a  sufficient  acreage  and  variety  of  land  for  land- 
scape gardening,  forestry  and  general  farm  tillage,  as  well  as  for 
gardening  and  nursery  plots. 

c.  Buildings.  —  The  buildings  should  be  especially  designed 
and  grouped  for  the  peculiar  work  of  the  school.     Such  build- 
ings as  barns  and  poultry  houses  should  be  of  the  kind  any 
farmer  with  a  moderate  amount  of  capital  would  wish  to  erect 
as  parts  of  a  convenient,  sanitary  and  practical  plant. 

d.  Live  Stock.  —  Quarters  for  all  kinds  of  live  stock  suited 
to  the  locality  should  be  provided.     The  school  might,  or  might 
not,  own  the  live  stock  dealt  with  in  class  demonstrations.     The 
best  obtainable  specimens  of  the  breeds  studied  should  be  seen 
and  handled,   and   proper   accommodations   for  keeping  them 
should  make  it  easy  to  borrow  or  hire  the  animals  when  needed. 
When  not  filled  with  live  stock,  these  quarters  would  still  be 
on  view  as  models  of  their  several  kinds  for  housing  and  car- 
ing for  the  various  types  of  farm  animals. 

e.  Other  Equipment.  —  The  equipment  should  be  modern 
and  varied,  but  every  piece  should  be  applicable  to  some  proj- 
ect in  practical  farming.     Submitted  to  the  test  of  practical 
farming,  much,  for  example,  of  the  equipment  usually  found 
in  high  school  science  laboratories  would  be  omitted  and  other 
equipment  would  be  selected.     A  museum  for  collecting  out-of- 
date  farm  implements  and  machines  would  serve  a  most  ex- 
cellent informational  purpose ;  but  the  main  object  should  be  to 
provide  the  best  models  of  implements  and  machines  for  pres- 
ent economic  use. 

B.  Support  and  Control.  —  The  cost  of  such  schools  is  large, 
generally  too  large  to  be  provided  by  a  single  community.  In 
good  schools  the  initial  cost  of  the  plant,  including  adequate  land, 
buildings  and  equipment,  and  of  providing  for  from  100  to  150 
students,  has  been  from  $40,000  upward.  The  annual  mainte- 
nance cost  has  varied  from  $8,000  upward.  In  some  cases  the 
cost  has  been  less  than,  in  others  it  has  considerably  exceeded,  the 
figures  here  named  for  both  plant  and  maintenance. 


23 

a.  Local  Support.  —  The  school  should  be  established  and 
equipped  by  the  local  community,  —  by  a  town  or  city,  or  by  a 
group  of  towns  or  cities,  or  towns  and  cities  formed  into  a  dis- 
trict.    This  should  insure  economy  of  construction  and  adapta- 
tion to  local  needs.     The  local  community  should  provide,  also, 
one-half  the  cost  of  maintenance. 

~b.  State  Support.  —  One-half  the  maintenance  cost  of  these 
schools  should,  in  accordance  with  present  statutory  provisions, 
be  borne  by  the  State.  In  consideration  of  State  support,  the 
school  should  be  subject  to  supervision  and  approval  by  the 
Board  of  Education  as  to  organization,  control,  location,  equip- 
ment, courses  of  study,  qualifications  of  teachers,  methods  of 
instruction,  conditions  of  admission  and  employment  of  pupils 
and  expenditures  of  money. 

C.  Conditions  of  Admission  and  Promotion.  —  All  applicants 
for  admission  above  fourteen  years  of  age  should  be  received, 
provided,  after  a  brief  probationary  period,  they  proved  able  to 
profit  by  the  instruction. 

Advancement  from  subject  to  subject  or  from  class  to  class  in 
farming  subjects  should  be  dependent  solely  upon  the  proficiency 
of  the  pupil  in  such  subjects,  and  not  upon  his  standing  in  Eng- 
lish, history  or  other  similar  studies.  Upon  withdrawal  from  the 
school,  whether  upon  graduation  or  earlier  in  the  course,  every 
student  should  be  given  a  certificate  containing  a  statement  of 
the  work  which  he  had  satisfactorily  completed. 

D.  Teaching  Staff.  —  a.   Vocational  Spirit.  —  The  teaching- 
staff  must  be  in  complete  sympathy  with  the  vocational  purpose 
the  school  is  designed  to  serve.    The  instructors  should  be  chosen 
from  those  who  have  found,  or  who  intend  to  find,  their  life  work 
in  this  field  of  education. 

b.  Fitness.  —  Aptitude  for  teaching  fourteen  to  eighteen  year 
old  boys  of  exceedingly  practical  interests  and  tendencies  is  indis- 
pensable.    One  may  succeed  as  a  teacher  of  men,  and  fail  as  a 
teacher  of  boys.     One  may  succeed  in  a  cultural  school  with 
book  subjects,  yet  utterly  fail  in  teaching  practical  subjects  in  a 
vocational  school.     To  natural  aptitude  must  also  be  added  spe- 
cial training  in  the  science  and  in  the  practice  of  different  kinds 
of  farming. 

c.  Originality  and  Resourcefulness.  —  In  devising  and  lead- 


24 

ing  the  students  to  work  out  definite  farming  activities,  the 
teachers  must  be  able  to  bring  to  bear  in  new  and  largely  untried 
ways  knowledge  of  the  general  field  of  agricultural  science  and 
practice.  Having  selected  things  to  be  done,  it  must  rest  with 
the  teaching  staff  to  find  help  for  doing  these  things,  —  in  related 
portions  of  mathematics,  chemistry,  physical  science,  biology 
and  economics. 

d.  Co-operation.  —  One  teacher  must  help  another.  Unity 
of  effort  is  no  less  important  than  is  unity  of  spirit.  All  eyes 
must  first  be  fixed  on  the  things  to  be  done ;  then,  towards  doing 
those  things  in  the  most  intelligent  and  skillful  manner,  each 
member  of  the  staff  should  contribute  his  particular  part. 

E.  Course  of  Preparation  for  General  Farming.  —  Courses 
should  be  provided  for  boys  and  girls.     The  girls  should  be 
trained  in  all  household  arts  and  -affairs.     They  should  also  be 
allowed,  if  not  required,  to  take  training  in  such  subjects  a& 
gardening,  poultry  raising,  bee-keeping  and  ornamental  planting. 
Here,  however,  only  the  agricultural  course  as  designed  for  the 
boys  is  discussed. 

a.  Length  of  Course.  —  A  four-years  course  for  boys  enter- 
ing at  fourteen  should  be  provided.  Each  year,  however,  should 
be  complete  in  itself.  This  would  permit  of  withdrawal  with 
profit  at  the  end  of  any  year.  It  would  permit,  also,  of  admit- 
ting for  a  year,  or  for  two  years,  an  older  student  who  could  not 
give  longer  time  to  the  work. 

~b.  Length  of  Session.  —  The  year  should  begin  not  earlier 
than  the  middle  of  September,  and  close  not  later  than  the  mid- 
dle of  June.  This  would  make  possible  a  school  year  of  thirty- 
six  weeks,  or  a  school  year  of  some  fifty  weeks,  under  a  co-opera- 
tive home  and  school  plan.  The  period  of  each  school  day  de- 
voted to  the  school  study  and  activities  should  probably  not  ex- 
ceed six  hours  as  a  maximum.  The  time  before  and  after  the 
daily  school  session  and  on  Saturdays  would  afford  proper 
opportunity  for  day-to-day  work  at  home,  where  continuity  of 
effort,  as  in  the  care  and  handling  of  live  stock,  is  a  necessity. 

F.  Principles  to  be  observed  in  Methods  of  Instruction.  — 
a.  Interest.  —  The  essential  minimum  of  the  study  of  books 
should  be  combined  with  the  maximum  attention  to  practical 
work.     Things  themselves  should  be  handled,  studied  and  rea- 


25 

soned  about;  operations,  many  in  number  and  of  an  extremely 
practical  nature,  should  be  performed.  General  rules,  statements 
or  ideas  may  follow  fresh  handling  of  concrete  detail,  —  they 
should  seldom  precede  it. 

b.  Responsibility.  —  Active  relationship  to  real  life,  and  per- 
sistent participation  in  farming  affairs  while  the  student  is  yet 
in  school,  should  be  fundamental  aims.  Methods  should  be  devel- 
oped, therefore,  which  involve  student  ownership  and  home  co- 
operation. 

G.  Gradation  of  Farming  Activities  or  Projects.  — a.  First- 
year  projects.1 --The  first  year  should  deal  mainly  with  proj- 
ects which  involve  an  elementary  knowledge  of  soils  and  plant 
life,  together  with  the  mathematics  related  thereto.  Kitchen 
garden  vegetables  and  flowering  plants  should  be  grown. 

b.  Second-year     Projects.  —  Certain     second-year     projects 
should   involve   extensive   experimental   study   of   agricultural 
botany;  others  should  involve  the  scientific  principles  and  the 
mathematics   necessary   for   successful   work   in   handling   the 
smaller  farm  animals,. such  as  poultry,  pigs  and  bees. 

c.  Third-year  Projects.  —  Fruit-growing  and  market-garden- 
ing projects  should  receive  chief  attention  in  the  third  year. 
The  first  principles  of  agricultural  chemistry  and  the  manipu- 
lation of  the  laboratory  apparatus  required  fqr  their  elucida- 
tion should  be  mastered.    Some  attention  should  be  given  to  the 
mathematics  required  for  field  surveys,  for  business  transac- 
tions and  for  figuring  the  cost  of  producing  and  marketing  the 
crops  under  consideration.     A  careful  study  should  be  made  of 
the  pumps,  engines  and  other  mechanical  devices  necessary  for 
spraying. 

d.  Fourth-year  Projects.  —  The  major  projects  of  the  fourth 
year  should  deal  with  animal  husbandry,  including  dairying. 
There  should  be  one  term  of  advanced  agricultural  chemistry. 
Here  the  greatest  maturity  in  age  and  mental  grasp  have  been 
attained.     The  largest  money  values  are  here  involved,  and  the 
most  difficult  problems  of  land  fertility,  rotation  of  crops,  ra- 
tions, breeding  and  animal  diseases  are  here  to  be  finally  dealt 
with.     Farm  management,  law  of  contracts  and  farm  accounts 
should  be  studied. 

1  The  word  "project,"  as  here  used,  is  defined  in  chapter  V. 


26 

e.  Possible  Modifications.  —  It  is  believed  that  the  above 
gradation  of  projects  by  years  would  be  found  a  good  outline  for 
the  development  of  courses  of  study  suited  to  local  needs.  It 
would  afford  much  flexibility  as  to  details  of  schedules  and  in- 
struction. At  the  same  time  it  is  recognized  that  other  outlines 
worthy  of  approval  may  grow  from  year  to  year  out  of  the  work 
of  the  separate  agricultural  schools. 

H.  Good  Citizenship.  —  Along  with  the  major  farming  in- 
terests of  these  four  years  there  should  be  developed  the  inter- 
ests and  powers  of  good  citizenship,  through  reading,  discus- 
sion of  current  events,  and  the  clear  and  logical  expression  of 
ideas  in  writing  and  public  address. 

I.  Home  Residence  and  Work.  —  a.  Home  Influence.  — 
Students  should  reside  at  home.  The  age  of  the  students  makes 
this  desirable,  if  not  imperative. 

~b.  Home  Experimentation.  —  Residence  at  home  should 
vastly  multiply  the  benefits  of  the  school.  There  would  be  op- 
portunity for  the  orderly  but  immediate  trying  out  of  new 
ideas  and  methods,  where  otherwise  habits  of  postponement 
would  be  formed.  From  day  to  day  the  teachings  of  the  school 
should  be  subjected,  on  a  modest  scale  at  least,  to  the  practical 
tests  of  the  home  farm  conditions  of  every  student.  In  no 
other  way  can  the  maximum  value  of  such  a  school  be  realized. 

c.  Home  Credit.  —  Home  work  should  be  provided  for  in  the 
system  of  marking,  and  full  credit  for  it  should  be  given 
towards  graduation.  For  promoting  a  keen  spirit  of  emulation, 
gatherings  of  pupils,  parents  and  others  should  be  held  at  the 
best  farms,  or  where  the  teachings  of  the  school  are  best  ex- 
emplified. Prizes  for  excellence  in  home  work  should  be 
awarded. 

J.  School  Supervision.  —  Home  work  should  not  only  be 
advised  or  suggested,  it  should  also  be  actively  supervised  from 
month  to  month.  At  least  one  instructor  should  be  employed 
for  this  purpose  throughout  the  growing  and  harvesting  seasons. 

K.  Student  Ownership.  —  a.  At  the  School. — All  flower 
and  vegetable  gardening  products  of  the  student  plots  at  the 
school  should  be  the  property  of  the  students,  provided  the 
plots  be  regularly  .and  properly  cared  for  throughout  the  sum- 


27 

mer.  The  plots  should  be  of  such  size  that  about  one-half  day 
a  week  during  the  summer  would  suffice  for  their  cultivation. 
Experience  has  shown  that  plots  of  this  size  yield  crops  of  suffi- 
cient value  to  repay  the  students  for  their  work.  Here  school 
control  should  be  absolute. 

b.  At  Home.  —  Parents  should  give  the  students  at  least 
modest  property  rights  at  home,  and  exact  proportionate  re- 
sponsibility and  industry.  Part  of  the  garden  might  be  given 
or  rented  the  first  year;  a  pen  of  poultry,  a  pen  of  pigs  and  a 
hive  of  bees,  the  second ;  part  of  the  orchard,  the  third ;  and  a 
cow,  the  fourth.  Accurate  account  of  outgo  and  income  should 
be  kept  in  all  cases. 

No  better  test  of  the  practicability  of  the  teachings  of  the 
school  could  be  made.  Though  school  control  is  likely  to  be 
more  or  less  modified  by  home  control,  good  results  should  still 
be  had  by  proper  choice  of  projects  and  harmonizing  of  inter- 
ests. 

L.  School  Operations  and  Products.  —  a.  School  operations 
should  be  primarily  for  educational  purposes.  A  bad  method 
may  be  followed,  and  beside  it  an  approved  method;  the  profit 
of  one  may,  or  may  not,  offset  the  loss  of  the  other.  Both  to- 
gether make  a  perfect  demonstration  for  purposes  of  instruction. 

The  results  of  such  demonstrations  should  be  followed  and 
observed  at  proper  intervals  by  the  students.  They  should  be 
required  to  report  at  the  school  on  the  call  of  the  instructor  for 
noting  the  demonstration  work  of  the  school  in  connection  with 
the  instruction  they  have  severally  received. 

b.  School  Products.  —  Apart  from  the  products  of  the  first- 
year  gardening  work,  all  products  of  the  school  farm  should  be 
disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of  the  school.  The  operations  of  the 
school  departments  should  be  under  the  direct  control  of  the  in- 
structors who  teach  the  subjects  the  departments  represent. 
Accurate  profit  and  loss  accounts  for  each  department  should 
be  kept. 

M.  The  Special  School.  —  A  separate  agricultural  school 
might  be  either  general  or  special  in  character.  If  general,  such 
a  school  would  undertake,  usually  by  a  four-years  course  of 
training,  to  fit  its  pupils  for  at  least  the  general  lines  of  farm 


28 

production  practiced  in  the  surrounding  territory.  If  special, 
a  separate  agricultural  school  might  limit  the  length  of  its 
course  to  one  or  two  years,  and  confine  its  instruction  to  a  single 
specialized  line  of  production,  such  as  market  gardening.  Such 
a  special  school  might  receive  students  after  they  had  spent  two 
or  more  years  in  an  agricultural  school  devoted  to  preparation 
for  general  farming;  and  it  might  also  admit  older  students 
without  previous  preparation  in  a  general  school,  if  they  were 
able  to  profit  from  the  training  offered. 

N.  More  Advanced  Education.  —  If  on  graduation  a  student 
should  desire  to  enter  the  Agricultural  College,  one  or  two  years 
of  further  study  at  his  local  high  school  should  enable  him  to 
meet  the  conventional  college  entrance  requirements.  He  might 
have  to  enter  conditioned  in  one  year  of  French  or  German ;  but 
a  condition  in  such  a  subject  could  be  easily  removed,  since  credit 
should  be  given  for  his  extensive  agricultural  training. 

(3)  General  Observations.  —  That  a  thoroughly  vocational 
education  in  agriculture  can  be  given  in  the  separate  agricul- 
tural school,  where  properly  equipped,  has  been  sufficiently 
demonstrated  by  experience  to  be  beyond  the  range  of  uncer- 
tainty. As  noted  before,  however,  such  a  school  in  this  State 
should  be  so  situated  as  to  be  easily  accessible  to  100  or  more 
pupils;  its  plant  would  be  expensive  and  its  maintenance  cost 
by  no  means  small. 

The  separate  agricultural  school,  as  herein  discussed,  might 
be  a  local  school,  readily  accessible  to  a  considerable  farming 
population,  whose  pupils  lived  at  home  and  secured  a  part  of 
their  practical  training  through  the  directed  performance  of 
their  duties  on  the  home  place ;  or  it  might  be  a  boarding  school 
for  pupils  gathered  from  a  considerable  area. 

Such  a  local  school  is  impracticable  in  agricultural  areas  inter- 
sected by  mountains  and  pasture  lands,  where  but  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  suitable  pupils  are  within  daily  travelling 
distance  of  a  central  point.  Many  communities  of  this  type  exist 
in  Massachusetts. 

Many  towns  or  groups  of  towns,  so  situated,  are  able  to  main- 
tain only  moderate-sized  high  schools,  and  have  within  easy 
reach  only  a  limited  number  of  students.  The  taxable  valuation 


29 

of  these  small  centers  of  population  would  forbid  the  existence 
of  so  expensive  an  institution  as  the  separate  agricultural  school. 
In  a  system  of  agricultural  education  designed  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  youth  of  the  entire  Commonwealth,  it  would  prob- 
ably be  necessary  to  provide  either  the  boarding  school  of  agri- 
culture or  the  agricultural  department  in  the  public  high  school, 
for  the  training  of  the  young  people  of  the  isolated  communities. 
The  boarding  school  of  agriculture  is  worthy  of  considera- 
tion, because  of  the  attention  which  it  has  received  in  other 
States.  It  does  not,  however,  seem  necessary  to  adopt  it  under 
the  conditions  which  prevail  in  a  compact  State  like  Massachu- 
setts, where  distances  are  so  short  and  transportation  facilities 
are  so  good.  Rather  it  is  believed  that  here  the  separate  local 
agricultural  school  (without  the  boarding  feature)  should  serve 
the  needs  of  thickly  settled  farming  districts ;  and  that  the  agri- 
cultural department  in  the  rural  high  school,  as  described  in 
the  closing  part  of  this  chapter,  should,  instead  of  the  boarding 
school,  train  for  effective  farming  those  who  live  in  the  more 
sparsely  populated  farming  communities. 

2.     SEPARATE  AGRICULTURAL  DEPARTMENT. 

(1)  General  Observations.  —  In  preparing  this  report,  a. care- 
ful analysis  has  been  made  of  the  conditions  of  the  smaller  com- 
munities as  related  to  the  necessary  conditions  of  vocational 
education  in  agriculture,  with  the  result  that  a  type  of  school 
found  developed  to  some  extent  in  Canada  suggests  itself  as 
being  the  most  feasible  means  of  meeting  Massachusetts  re- 
quirements. This  has  been  styled  the  agricultural  department 
of  an  existing  high  school,  and  contemplates  the  building  up 
within  an  ordinary  high  school  of  a  vocational  department, 
corresponding  to  the  vocational  departments  in  commercial 
studies  found  in  some  village  high  schools. 

From  facts  and  conditions  adduced  below,  it  is  believed  that 
in  some  localities  in  Massachusetts,  under  very  careful  super- 
vision, such  agricultural  departments  would  be  possible,  and 
could,  if  rightly  administered,  give  genuine  vocational  training 
in  agriculture.  The  "  part-time  work,"  or  school  and  home- 
farm  co-operative  method,  discussed  in  chapter  Y.  of  this  report, 


30 

would,  it  is  believed,  make  such  departments  vocationally  effec- 
tive as  preparatory  courses  for  productive  farming  in  this  Com- 
monwealth. 

(2)  Definition  and  Present  Attempts.  —  Vocational  agricul- 
tural education  as  a  separate  department  in  a  high  school  should 
be  as  distinctive  in  its  object  and  atmosphere  as  is  the  separate 
agricultural  school.     Such  a  department  would  best  be  estab- 
lished in  a  secondary  school  which  had  a  farming  environment 
and  an  abundance  of  readily  accessible  illustrative  material,  in 
varieties  of  farm  land,  equipment,  operations  and  products. 

There  are  fourteen  departments  somewhat  of  this  type  in  the 
Province  of  Ontario :  six  established  in  1906,  two  in  1908,  three 
in  1909  and  three  in  1910.  It  is  intended  to  develop  this 
work  until  every  county  in  that  province  has  been  covered. 

Work  of  like  nature  is  now  being  given  its  first  year  of  trial 
by  the  Friends'  Bloomingdale  Academy,  Bloomingdale,  Parke 
County,  Indiana.  The  practical  courses  in  farm  management 
established  by  the  Agricultural  Guild  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  in  1908,  utilize  for  practical  experience  farm  equip- 
ment privately  owned  and  land  operated  for  economic  purposes, 
as  distinguished  from  land  and  equipment  provided  and  main- 
taine.d  by  endowment  or  public  funds. 

(3)  Minimum    Standards.  —  The    agricultural    department 
must  maintain  minimum   standards   of   similar  character   to 
those  fixed  for  the  separate  agricultural  school.     An  outline  is 
here  given  of  vital  factors  for  the  success  of  such  a  depart- 
ment :  — 

A.  Instructor.  —  There  should  be  at  least  one  specialist  for 
instruction  in  agriculture.  This  teacher  should  be  a  man, 
should  preferably  have  been  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and  should, 
where  practicable,  be  a  graduate  of  an  agricultural  college.  In 
short,  he  should  be,  first  of  all,  practical,  a  man  interested  in 
farming  and  capable  in  farm  work  and  management. 

His  time  and  attention  should  be  devoted  exclusively  to  farm- 
ing subjects.  His  service  should  be  rendered  throughout  the 
growing  and  harvesting  seasons,  in  part  as  supervisor  of  school 
projects  at  the  homes  of  the  students,  in  part  as  teacher  of 
agriculture  at  the  school.  He  might  also,  if  requested  to  do  so. 
act  as  advisor  among  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  the  school. 


31 

B.  School  Quarters  and  Equipment.  —  a.  Class  Room.  —  A 
class  room  should  be  given  this  instructor  for  his  exclusive  use. 
This  should  be  on  the  ground  floor,  or  in  a  high,  well-lighted 
basement,  and  should  be  such  as  to  permit  of  in-door  demon- 
strations of  farm  animals,  implements  and  machines.    It  might, 
or  might  not,  be  in  the  high  school  building. 

b.  Equipment  and  Appurtenances.  —  His  equipment  should 
at  least  include  a  Babcock  testing  outfit,  seed-corn  germinators, 
special  agricultural  physics  apparatus,  individual  sets  of  gar- 
dening tools,  hot  beds  and  cold  frames.     Greenhouse  space, 
though  not  more  than  a  6-foot  by  30-foot  lean-to,  heated  from 
the  regular  school-heating  plant,  would  be  an  advantage;  as 
would,  also,  be  an  acre  of  land  for  garden,  nursery  and  demon- 
stration plots. 

c.  Headquarters  for  the  Instructor.  —  An  office  should  be 
provided.    This  should  be  large  enough  for  a  library  and  read- 
ing room,  and  fitted  up  for  such  use.    There  should  be  furnished 
in  this  room  as  complete  a  file  as  possible  of  books,  bulletins 
and  periodicals  on  farming  specialties. 

C.  Home  Equipment  and  Co-operation.  —  Practically  all  the 
materials,    implements   and    animals   required   for   demonstra- 
tions should  be  brought  to  the  school  by  the  students,  or  should 
be  examined  on  thrifty  farms  not  too  far  distant.    Everything 
examined  would  thus  be  part  and  parcel  of  actual  farming  out- 
fits :  each  implement,  animal  and  building  would  represent  some 
farmer's  judgment  and  money.     The  school  would   at  every 
point  be  dealing  with  definite  economic  propositions. 

D.  Conditions  of  Admission  and  Promotion.  —  Boys  above 
fourteen  years  of  age  should  be  admitted  to  the  work  of  the 
agricultural  department  of  the  high  school  when,  upon  trial, 
they  show  themselves  able  to  profit  by  the  training,  even  though 
they  have  not  satisfactorily  completed  all  the  work  of  the  ele- 
mentary school.     Girls  of  the  same  age  might  attend  certain 
classes.    It  would  be  necessary,  as  is  pointed  out  at  another  place, 
for  those  pursuing  the  work  of  the  agricultural  department  as 
an  elective  course  to  take  all  studies  save  the  art  and  science 
of  agriculture  in  the  regular  high  school  classes.     ~No  student 
should  be  prevented  from  attending  the  agricultural  classes  or 


32 

be  deprived  of  promotion  in  them  by  inability  to  take  high 
rank  in  other  subjects. 

E.  Course  of  Study.  —  The  agricultural  department  in  the 
school  should  offer  training  in  the  practice  and  the  science  of 
agriculture.  The  course  in  agriculture  should  be  elective  to  the 
regular  pupils  of  the  high  school,  and,  as  before  said,  should  be 
open  to  those  above  fourteen  who  intend  to  be  farmers,  even 
though  they  might  not  be  able  to  pursue  successfully  certain  other 
branches  of  study  offered  by  the  school.  Regular  pupils  pursuing 
the  course  in  farming  should  be  permitted  to  substitute  satis- 
factory work  therein  for  the  requirements  of  the  school  in  such 
cultural  subjects  as  Latin  or  German,  or  for  certain  courses  in 
physics,  chemistry  and  biology. 

In  this  way  it  would  be  possible  and  advisable  that  regular 
pupils,  pursuing,  as  a  legitimate  part  of  their  study,  the  course 
in  agriculture,  should  at  the  close  of  a  four  years  course  gradu- 
ate with  their  fellows,  and  receive  a  certificate  or  diploma  setting 
forth  the  work  which  they  had  satisfactorily  performed. 

The  school  course  should  permit  of  continuous  work  at  home, 
morning,  evening  and  on  Saturday,  as  in  the  separate  agricul- 
tural school. 

a.  Dominant  Motive.  —  As  in  the  separate  school,  the  atmos- 
phere and  the  dominant  object  in  the  agricultural  department 
should  be  agricultural  and  vocational.  Much  of  this  atmosphere 
might  with  profit  be  extended  to  other  departments  of  the 
school.  Contact  with  farming  objects  and  activities  would  vital- 
ize the  instruction  in  the  regular  courses  in  science  and  in 
manual  arts. 

~b.  Grouping  Studies  and  Students.  —  By  putting  first  and 
second  year  students  together  in  one  class,  and  third  and  fourth 
together  in  another,  each  student  would  be  given  double  the 
amount  of  distinctively  agricultural  training  by  the  instructor 
which  would  be  possible  were  the  students  handled  in  four  divi- 
sions instead  of  in  two.  By  the  same  means  the  efficiency  and 
enthusiasm  of  the  teacher  would  be  multiplied.  In  alternate 
years  the  energy  and  attention  of  all  could  be  concentrated  now 
on  animal  husbandry  and  then  on  horticultural  subjects,  or 
vice  versa. 


33 

c.  Winter  School  at  the  Agricultural  College.  —  Moreover, 
the  regulations  should  permit  a  student  who  could  meet  the  age 
requirement  to  take  winter  short  courses,  at  least  during  his 
third  and  fourth  years,  at  the  Agricultural  College,  with  no 
prejudice  to  graduation  with  his  class ;  that  is  to  say,  credit  for 
a  short  course  at  the  college  should  be  accepted  as  meeting  in  full 
the  winter-term  demands  of  any  year  at  the  school. 

d.  Schedules  of  the  Instructor  and  Students.  —  The  program 
should  schedule  the  instructor  for  from  sixteen  to  twenty  periods 
a  week  during  the  fall  and  spring  terms,  and  allow  the  winter 
term  for  his  vacation.     The  instructor,  in  close  connection  with 
his  class  instruction,  should  be  scheduled  for  inspection  and  ad- 
visory work  at  the  homes  of  the  students  and  among  other  farms 
throughout  the  summer. 

e.  Transfer  of  Students  to  a  Special  School.  —  Should  a  spe- 
cial school  for  such  training  as  market  gardening  be  established, 
with  a  .one-year  or  a  two-years  course,  a  student  desiring  the 
special  training  of  such  a  school  might  be  transferred  to  it  at 
the  close  of  the  second  or  third  year  of  the  general  farming 
course  of  the  agricultural  department  of  an  existing  high  school. 

F.  Support  and  Control.  —  a.  State  Support.  —  The  salary 
of  instructors  for  such  departments  would  probably  vary  from 
$1,000  to  $1,500  a  year,  and  should  be  paid  in  part  by  the  State, 
as  elsewhere  proposed  in  this  report.  (See  Appendix,  page  100.) 

b.  Local  Support.  —  Quarters  and  equipment,  and  the  neces- 
sary adjustments  of  curriculum  for  providing  a  well-balanced 
course  of  study,  inclusive  of  the  agricultural  subjects,  should  be 
furnished  by  the  local  authorities.    If  the  local  school  possessed 
wood-working,  forging  and  drawing  equipment,  correlation  of 
the  manual  arts  work  with  farming  would  add  decided  value  to 
the  work  of  the  agricultural  department.     The  local  authorities 
should  also  pay  one-third  of  the  instructor's  salary. 

c.  Local  Committee.  -  -  This  department  might  be  visited  by 
a  special  local  committee  interested  in  practical  farming,  and 
the  advice  of  such  a  committee  might  be  sought  in  developing 
this  branch  of  the  work  of  the  school. 

d.  State  Supervision  and  Approval.  —  All  matters  relating 
to  organization,  control,  location,  equipment,  courses  of  study, 


34 

qualifications  of  teachers,  methods  of  instruction,  conditions  of 
admission  and  employment  of  pupils  and  expenditures  of  money, 
while  immediately  in  charge  of  the  local  school  authorities, 
should  be  subject  to  supervision  and  approval  by  the  Board 
of  Education. 

G.  More  Advanced  Training.  —  A  student  who  had  decided 
to  go  to  college  should  find  the  same  opportunities  open  for 
preparing  himself  for  college  entrance  as  does  the  student  in  the 
separate  agricultural  school.  An  unusually  capable  boy  might 
carry  a  course  in  mathematics  or  a  foreign  language  in  the  reg- 
ular classes  of  the  school  while  taking  his  agricultural  course. 
On  completion  of  his  agricultural  course,  one  additional  year 
of  study  would  perhaps  suffice  for  completing  his  college  pre- 
paratory work. 

Up  to  this  point  this  report  has  discussed  the  farming  sit- 
uation in  Massachusetts  that  seems  to  justify  a  system  of 
agricultural  education  for  the  Commonwealth,  the  types  of  vo- 
cational schools  in  agriculture  that  seem  to  be  advisable  for  such 
a  system,  and  the  standards  which  should  be  insisted  upon  in 
order  to  make  their  work  effective. 


35 


I\T. 


CO-OPERATION  BETWEEN  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  FARM 

NECESSARY   TO  AN  EFFECTIVE   SYSTEM 

OF     AGRICULTURAL     SCHOOLS 

FOR  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  previous  chapter  discussed  the  separate  agricultural 
school  and  the  agricultural  department  in  a  high  school  as 
desirable  types  of  vocational  school  education  in  agriculture  for 
Massachusetts. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter  to  point  out  why 
co-operation  between  the  school  and  the  home  farm  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  make  the  work  of  such  schools  effective. 

Vocational  education  is  education  that  has  for  its  controlling 
purpose  the  fitting  of  persons  of  either  sex  for  definite  callings 
or  pursuits.  Vocational  schools  of  every  type  are  coming  to  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  practice  and  thinking  about  the 
practice,  practical  and  technical  training  must  go  hand  in  hand 
in  effective  vocational  education. 

The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Most  people  learn  better  by 
seeing  and  by  doing,  than  from  books.  The  experience  of  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  pupils  in  industrial  and  agricultural 
schools  proves  conclusively  that  many  persons  who  have  been 
unable  to  master  principles  and  theories  as  taught  by  the  or- 
dinary method  of  the  book,  have  large  power  of  mastering  prin- 
ciples when  these  are  approached  through  the  background  of 
their  daily  employment ;  and  that,  best  of  all,  they  possess  large 
capacity  to  retain  and  apply  knowledge  so  taught  and  so  com- 
prehended. 

Practice  and  thinking  about  the  practice  constitute  the  key  to 
the  situation.  Industrial  and  trade  schools  are  securing  the 
needed  practice  for  their  pupils  to-day,  either  through  school 
shops  which  they  are  endeavoring  to  make  economically  pro- 
ductive, or  through  the  actual  wage-earning  occupations  of 
the  pupils.  Thinking  about  the  practice  is  secured  by  a  prop- 
erly selected  and  adjusted  course  of  closely  related  studies 


36 

at  the  school  in  which  part  of  their  time  is  spent.  The  shop 
provides  in  illustrations  and  practical  work  the  raw  materials; 
the  school,  the  finished  educational  product. 

Farm  Boys  may  be  favorably  placed,  but  require  Concurrent 
Practice  and  thinking  about  that  Practice.  —  Boys  and  girls 
who  expect  to  follow  farming  for  a  living  probably  are  not  ex- 
ceptions to  the  general  rule.  Vocationally  effective  education 
for  them,  also,  must  involve  an  intimate  relationship  between 
practical  and  technical  training. 

Related  Study  at  the  School.  —  The  question  now  arises, 
Where  is  the  boy  to  secure  correct  experience  in  farming?  It 
will  not  be  difficult  for  the  school  to  give  related  scientific  knowl- 
edge, provided  the  pupil  brings  to  it  a  background  of  experi- 
ence in  agricultural  activities  that  enables  him  to  assimilate 
it,  and  provided  he  is  able,  through  his  practice  on  a  farm  of 
some  type,  to  fix  the  principles  and  theories  gained  in  the  school 
room. 

Previous  Farm  Practice  not  Sufficient.  —  It  seems  to  be  clear 
that  the  pupils  of  an  agricultural  school  do  not,  as  a  rule,  bring 
to  their  studies  about  agriculture  a  body  of  previous  farm  ex- 
perience which  the  school  can  utilize  in  giving  a  working  mas- 
tery of  the  principles  and  theories  that  lie  back  of  the  best 
practice.  The  greater  number  come  from  farm  homes  where 
they  may,  or  may  not,  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  receive 
directed  practice  in  scientific  agriculture.  There  is  at  least  a 
slight  movement  from  city  to  country.  It  may  be  expected  that 
a  small  portion  of  the  enrollment  in  agricultural  schools  of 
secondary  grade  will  consist  of  city  and  village  boys  who  have 
had  no  training  in  the  routine  of  the  farm.  In  order  that  such 
boys  may  bring  to  their  training  something  like  the  same  ad- 
vantages possessed  by  the  country-bred  pupil,  they  should,  if 
possible,  previous  to  entering  the  school  have  spent  at  least 
one  year  on  a  farm.  While  this  discussion  is  primarily  con- 
cerned with  the  country-bred  boy,  it  is,  in  the  principles  it  lays 
down,  equally  or  even  more  forcibly  applicable  to  the  city  or 
village  boy  who  has  farming  aspirations. 

The  previous  farm  experience  of  the  country-bred  boy  may 
have  been  directed  by  a  farmer  who  has  been  too  hard  pressed 


37 

by  his  own  farm  routine  to  reflect  on  his  own  practice  in  agri- 
culture, or  to  direct  the  work  of  his  son  so  that  it  might  be  most 
educative  from  the  vocational  point  of  view. 

It  is  significant  that  many  of  those  who  are  most  desirous 
that  their  sons  shall  receive  agricultural  education  through  the 
instruction  and  direction  of  the  school  are  among  the  most 
intelligent  and  prosperous  farmers  in  the  Commonwealth.  They 
clearly  see,  for  the  reasons  given  in  chapter  VII. ,  that  even  the 
best  farmers  cannot  expect  to  be  the  best  schoolmasters  in  this 
line  of  training. 

The  condition  of  Massachusetts  farming  in  general  is  not 
satisfactory  to  the  leaders  of  agriculture  nor  to  the  community 
at  large.  This  means  that  most  farm  boys,  so  far  as  they  bring 
farm  experience  to  the  school,  are  more  likely,  to  have  been 
brought  up  to  use  bad  or  indifferent  methods  than  to  use  the 
best. 

Moreover,  the  boy  of  fourteen  as  a  rule  has  been  too  young  to 
have  been  able  to  reflect  seriously  or  extensively  on  the  problems 
connected  with  the  agricultural  activities  which  he  has  observed 
or  in  which  he  has  had  a  part. 

It  is  possible,  even  in  the  absence  of  closely  related  practice,  to 
give  much  effective  vocational  training  in  the  sciences  related  to 
different  farming  operations  to  those  of  mature  mind  who  have 
had  experience  in  them.  A  farmer,  for  example,  who  had  for- 
merly kept  a  herd  of  cows,  might  attend  a  course  of  instruction 
in  the  principles  of  scientific  dairying.  By  this  means  he  might 
make  a  second  venture  in  that  field  more  intelligent  and  more 
profitable.  No  one  will  question,  however,  that  the  dairyman 
who  was  able  to  put  into  immediate  effect  in  his  own  herd  the 
scientific  knowledge  gained  in  such  a  course  would  acquire  a 
greater  working  mastery  of  the  principles  that  lie  back  of  the 
successful  pursuit  of  his  calling. 

It  seems  to  be  clear,  in  short,  that  the  more  or  less  elementary, 
more  or  less  undirected  or  misdirected,  more  or  less  undigested 
farming  experience  of  the  country-bred  child  cannot,  in  the 
absence  of  additional  practical  training,  be  made  a  safe  basis  for 
the  effective  teaching  of  agriculture  as  a  vocation. 

It  is  true  that,  oft  entering  the  agricultural  school  or  an  agri- 
cultural department  in  a  high  school,  that  boy  or  girl  must 


38 

derive  greatest  profit  who  brings  to  the  work  the  richest  store  of 
previous  practical  farm  experience;  but  even  with  the  best-pre- 
pared pupil  it  will  not  be  safe  to  suppose  that  farm  experience 
of  the  younger  years  will  be  found  fixed  and  vivid  in  the  mem- 
ory, to  be  drawn  upon  at  will,  as  the  classroom  discussions  shift 
now  to  one  phase  and  now  to  another  of  farming. 

Past  experience  may  aid  in  the  work,  and  will  do  so  to  the 
extent  to  which  that  experience  was  intelligent  and  to  the  extent 
to  which  it  remains  vivid.  Practical  farming  and  the  book 
study  of  the  subject,  concurrently  carried  on  under  the  direction 
of  a  specially  prepared  instructor,  appear  to  be  the  only  certain 
method  of  securing  these  ends.  Thinking  may  refer  back  to 
this  experience  to  some  extent ;  it  must  to  some  extent  anticipate 
future  activity;  but  in  the  main  it  is  believed  that  the  training 
of  the  agricutural  school,  to  be  effective,  must  at  once  provide, 
and  thereafter  concurrently  interrelate,  as  far  as  possible,  these 
two  supplementary  processes,  —  directed  farm  practice  and 
study  about  that  practice. 

Provisions  for  Proper  Farm  Practice.  —  How  many  school 
authorities  secure  for  pupils  seeking  preparation  for  profitable 
agriculture  properly  directed  experience  in  farming  processes? 
Agricultural  schools  of  every  type,  in  order  to  be  effective, 
should,  it  is  believed,  provide  at  least  a  small  equipment  on  or 
near  the  school  premises,  for  observation  and  demonstration  work 
in  correct  methods  of  farming.  Such  an  equipment  would  be 
possible  in  the  typical  rural  community.  A  few  communities 
may  be  sufficiently  prosperous  to  establish  and  maintain  agri- 
cultural schools  equipped  with  the  farming  plant,  equipment, 
animals  and  materials  necessary  to  diversified  and  effective 
training  in  the  arts  of  agriculture.  Such  an  outlay  of  public 
money  probably  lies,  if  not  beyond  the  resources,  at  least  be- 
yond the  civic  power,  of  the  typical  rural  community  which 
most  needs  agricultural  education. 

If  agricultural  schools  could  be  equipped  with  extensive 
school  farms,  it  would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  the  best 
results,  that  pupils  should  devote  a  considerable  portion  of  their 
time,  now  employed  at  home,  particularly  in  the  growing  sea- 
son, to  directed  activities  on  the  school  premises.  But  it  would 


39 

be  impracticable  to  withdraw  to  any  great  extent  boys  from  ser- 
vice on  the  home  farm  for  service  on  the  school  farm.  Further- 
more, all  the  operations  connected  with  the  tillage  of  the  soil, 
such  as  the  care  and  observation  of  experimental  tracts,  lack 
significance  until  the  seasons  of  growth  and  harvest,  —  seasons 
that  find  the  school  session  ended,  and  the  pupils  widely  scat- 
tered and  possibly  engaged  in  cultivating  or  harvesting  the  crops 
on  the  home  farm. 

As  the  most  promising  solution  of  the  problem  of  securing 
effective  vocational  training  in  agriculture,  this  report  recom- 
mends that  the  home  farms  of  the  pupils  be  utilized  in  what 
may  be  termed  "  part-time  work  "  in  agriculture. 

Part-time  work  in  agriculture  would  be  utilizing  home  land, 
equipment  and  time,  outside  school  hours,  for  practical  train- 
ing supervised  by  the  school.  The  term  "  part-time  work  "  is 
a  descriptive  expression,  brought  over  from  current  discussion 
of  certain  forms  of  industrial  training,  for  use  in  unfolding 
the  possibilities  of  this  proposed  type  of  training  in  the  field 
of  education  in  agriculture.  Part-time  work  in  industrial  ed- 
ucation means  that  the  student  spends  part  of  the  time  required 
for  his  training  in  a  shop  or  manufacturing  establishment,  and 
part  of  the  time  at  the  school  building;  both  school  and  shop 
work,  however,  being  intimately  related  and  supplementary  to 
each  other. 

Part-time  work  as  applied  to  agricultural  education  would 
mean  that  the  student  must  spend  part  of  the  time  required 
for  his  education  in  productive  farm  work,  preferably  at  home, 
and  part  of  his  time  at  the  school;  the  farm  work  and  school 
study  to  be  closely  correlated  by  the  school  at  points  selected 
from  season  to  season  or  from  year  to  year,  and  to  be  given  the 
highest  possible  educational  value  by  competent  school  super- 
vision. 

Equitable.  —  -  The  same  causes  that  have  brought  about  a 
widespread  demand  for  co-operation  between  school  and  shop 
in  industrial  training,  make  just  as  necessary  similar  co-opera- 
tion between  the  school  and  the  home  farm  in  agricultural 
training.  Historically,  shop  and  farm  at  one  time  gave  the 
youth  all  his  vocational  training.  Of  late  the  tendency  has 


40 

been,  under  the  stress  of  modern  conditions,  to  throw  upon  the 
schools  almost  the  entire  responsibility  for  the  industrial  arid 
agricultural  education  of  minors.  It  is  becoming  increasingly 
apparent  that  the  school  cannot  meet  this  difficult  and  expen- 
sive burden,  unaided.  It  would  therefore  seem  to  be  equitable 
that  the  schools  should  bestow  the  related  theoretical  instruction 
which  they  are  so  well  designed  to  give,  leaving  to  factory  and 
farm  the  task  of  giving,  under  expert  direction,  the  practical 
experience  which  they  are  well  equipped  to  confer. 

Economical.  —  Such  part-time  work  would  reduce  the  cost 
of  agricultural  training  of  secondary  grade  so  as  to  place  effec- 
tive training  for  the  farm  within  the  reach  of  many  communi- 
ties which  would  otherwise  be  unable  to  secure  it.  Part-time 
work  would  obviate  the  necessity  of  sending  the  boy  away  from 
home  in  order  to  secure  the  benefits  of  agricultural  training. 
The  cost  of  living  for  the  boy  would  be  less  at  home  than  at  a 
boarding  school.  Parents  would  be  deprived  of  the  services  of 
the  boy  during  only  a  portion  of  the  day. 

Effective.  —  Co-operative  work  between  the  school  and  the 
home  farm  would  be  the  most  effective  known  means  of  trying 
out,  under  the  conditions  of  individual  farms  over  widely  scat- 
tered areas,  methods  which  have  proved  to  be  profitable  else- 
where, as,  for  example,  at  the  State  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station.  Such  co-operation  would  furnish  the  only  experi- 
mental means  by  which  each  boy  could  try  out  the  merits  of 
the  home  farm  as  an  agency  for  producing  profits,  when  treated 
by  the  best-known  methods ;  that  is  to  say,  part-time  work  would 
furnish  the  only  means  whereby  the  principles  and  methods 
taught  by  the  school  could  be  positively  adapted  by  the  boy  to 
the  economic  conditions  on  the  farm  on  which  he  might  spend 
his  working  days.  Part-time  work  thus  should  give  to  agri- 
cultural teaching  the  reality  of  actual  life,  as  but  little  school 
training  can  give  it. 

Conclusion.  —  It  is  believed,  in  short,  that  every  purpose  of 
economy  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  system  of 
agricultural  schools,  and  of  efficiency  in  the  education  provided, 
would  be  insured  by  utilization  to  the  largest  possible  extent 
of  home  land,  equipment  and  time  in  the  training  of  boys  for 
the  successful  pursuit  of  farming  in  this  Commonwealth. 


41 


V. 


THE  PART-TIME  AND   PROJECT   METHOD   NECESSARY 

TO  AN  EFFECTIVE  SYSTEM  OF  AGRICULTURAL 

SCHOOLS  FOR  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  present  chapter  outlines  a  method  by  which,  it  is  believed, 
education  through  the  plan  of  "  part-time  work  "  in  agriculture, 
recommended  in  chapter  IV.,  may  be  made  effective. 

Under  the  "  part-time  work  "  plan,  developed  into  a  system 
for  the  whole  State,  centers  would  be  selected.  The  instruction 
would  be  adapted  to  the  kinds  of  farming  prevalent  in  the  dis- 
tricts surrounding  those  centers.  The  practical  applications  of 
the  instruction  would  thus  be  subject  to  the  obstacles  continually 
encountered  under  the  economic  farming  conditions  found  in 
any  given  district;  just  as  they  would,  also,  be  aided  by  all 
the  influences  in  this  Commonwealth  which  make  for  the  im- 
provement of  farming.  The  plan,  as  an  educational  process, 
is  believed  to  possess  unquestionable  merit,  because  farming 
activities  would  readily  resolve  themselves  into  what  may  be 
termed  farming  "  projects." 

A  Farming  Project  is  a  Thing  to  be  done.  —  1.  Improvement 
Projects.  —  The  thing  done  might  contribute  some  element  of 
improvement  about  the  farm,  as  constructing  a  concrete  walk 
leading  to  the  front  door,  the  planting  and  nurturing  of  shade 
trees,  the  making  and  maintaining  of  an  attractive  lawn. 

2.  Experimental  Projects.  —  The  thing  done  might  be  of  an 
experimental  nature,  as  the  planting  of  an  untried  variety  of 
fruit,  the  feeding  of  an  untried  ration,  the  testing  of  an  untried 
spraying  mixture,  or  the  testing  of  one  or  another  of  much 
advertised  roofing  materials. 

3.  Productive  Projects.  —  Finally,  the  thing  done  might  be 
of  a  productive  nature,  as  the  growing  of  a  crop  of  clover  or 
alfalfa,  the  growing  of  a  field  of  potatoes,  the  growing  of  a  crop 
of  silage  corn,  or  the  production  of  eggs  for  the  market. 

A  Farming  Project  is.,  further,,  Something  to  ~be  done  on  a 
Farm,  which  would  involve  a  Limited  and  Definite  Amount  of 


42 

Equipment,  Materials  and  Time,  and  ivhich  would  be  directed 
toward  the  Accomplishment  of  a  Specified  and  Valuable  Result. 
—  1.  Improvement.  —  An  improvement  project  might  be  lim- 
ited, for  example,  to  a  given  length  and  width  of  concrete  walk, 
constructed  of  a  given  kind  of  stone,  sand  and  cement,  costing 
not  to  exceed  a  given  sum  of  money,  and  requiring  not  to  exceed 
a  specified  amount  of  time. 

2.  Experimental.  —  An  experimental  project  might  be  lim- 
ited, for  example,  to  the  planting  of  a  given  number  of  trees  of 
an  untried  fruit,  on  a  piece  of  ground  which  could  well  be  spared 
for  such  a  hazard,  and  involving  a  cost  in  time  and  money  which 
it  was  felt  could  be  afforded  at  a  given  time  for  this  risk. 

3.  Productive.  —  A  productive  project  might  be  limited,  for 
example,  to  the  growing  of  a  given  area  of  clover  or  alfalfa,  at  a 
given  cost  for  seed,  fertilizer  and  labor,  and  for  the  securing 
of  a  specified  quantity  and  value  of  feeding  stuff  or  roughage. 

Finally,  a  Farming  Project,  as  the  Term  is  here  used,  is  a 
Thing  to  be  done  on  a  Farm,  which,  in  the  Preparation  for  doing 
it  and  in  the  Carrying  of  it  out  to  a  Successful  Result,  would 
involve  a  Thorough-going  Educational  Process.  —  1.  Improve- 
ment. —  The  improvement  project  of  constructing  a  concrete 
walk  to  the  front  door  might  involve  the  study  of  the  nature  of 
cement ;  its  action  on  sand  and  gravel  or  broken  stone ;  its  resist- 
ant qualities  to  the  weather ;  the  seasons  at  which  it  could  be 
used ;  its  cost,  as  compared  with  other  materials,  such  as  boards, 
plank,  tar,  brick,  flagging  and  asphalt ;  the  mathematical  deter- 
mination of  the  proportions  of  cement,  sand  and  stone  to  be 
used;  the  geometrical  determination  of  the  sections  into  which 
it  should  be  divided,  and  whether  it  should  be  crowned  or  flat; 
the  geographical  sources  of  the  raw  material;  and  the  market 
conditions  for  purchasing  cement. 

2.  Experimental.  --  The  experimental  project  of  planting  an 
untried  variety  of  fruit  might  involve  the  study  of  the  probable 
adaptability  of  the  variety  selected  to  the  soil,  the  climate  and 
the  market  demands  within  reach  of  the  farm. 

3.  Productive. --The  productive  project  of  growing  a  crop 
of  clover  or  alfalfa  might  involve  the  study  of  the  various  vari- 
eties of  clover;  the  comparative  adaptability  of  these  varieties 


43 

to  the  given  field  on  which  the  crop  was  to  be  grown  and  to  the 
climate  of  the  locality ;  the  most  reliable  places  for  the  purchase 
of  seed ;  the  best  time  for  seeding ;  the  best  time  for  cutting ;  the 
best  methods  of  curing  and  storing ;  the  mathematical  calculation 
as  to  the  saving  in  cost  of  feeding  stuffs  which  the  crop  would 
afford;  the  chemical  elements  it  would  furnish  in  the  ration; 
and  the  chemical,  biological  and  mechanical  effects  on  the  soil 
in  which  it  would  be  grown. 

A  Complete  Definition  of  a  "  Project  "  as  here  used  has  Three 
Elements.  —  Thus,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  complete  definition  of 
a  farming  project  as  here  used  involves  the  three  elements  of 
(1)  something  to  be  done  on  a  farm,  (2)  under  specified  con- 
ditions and  for  a  specified  valuable  result,  and  (3)  requiring 
a  thorough-going  training. 

Project  Fields  or  Classes.  —  There  are  certain  broad,  general 
fields  in  which  numerous  projects  might  be  found.  Among 
these  are :  — 

Vegetable  gardening. 

Flower  gardening. 

Landscape  gardening. 

Orcharding. 

Small  fruit  growing. 

Growing  of  general  farm  crops. 

Farm  forestry. 

Greenhouse  crops. 

Production  of  poultry  products. 

Beekeeping. 

Swine  husbandry. 

Sheep  raising. 

Horse  raising. 

Dairying. 

Agricultural  physics  and  mechanics  as  applied  to  farm  buildings, 

drainage,    irrigation,    and    providing    and    maintaining    farm 

machinery. 

Major  Projects.  —  Projects  within  the  above  general  fields 
might  be  major  projects.  Of  major  projects,  the  following  may 
be  given  as  examples :  — 

1.  Caring  for  the  Kitchen  Garden.  —  Under  the  direction  of 


44 

the  school,  a  boy  over  fourteen  years  of  age  might  be  required 
or  permitted  to  cultivate  the  kitchen  garden  for  supplying  the 
family  with  vegetables  or  small  fruit. 

2.  Keeping  a  Pen  of  Poultry.  —  Under  the  direction  of  the 
school,  he  might  be  required  or  permitted  to  keep  a  pen  of,  let 
us  say,  twenty-five  birds,  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  net 
profit  on  the  enterprise. 

3.  Caring  for  a  Selected  Part  of  the  Orchard.  —  Under  the 
direction  of  the  school,  he  might  be  required  or  permitted  to 
care  for  a  part  of  the  home  orchard,  say  five  apple  trees,  so  as 
to  improve  the  quality  of  the  fruit  and  thus  gain  a  larger  net 
return. 

4.  Raising  a  Specified  Crop  of  Potatoes.  —  Under  the  di- 
rection of  the  school,  he  might  be  required  or  permitted  to  raise 
on  the  home  farm  an  acre,  or  a  tenth  of  an  acre,  of  potatoes, 
according  to  his  age  and  strength,  so  as  to  secure  the  best  pos- 
sible crop  and  the  largest  possible  financial  return. 

5.  Caring  for  One  Cow.  —  Under  the  direction  of  the  school, 
he  might  be  required  or  permitted  to  care  for  one  cow  in  the 
home  herd,  with  a  view  to  securing  from  her  the  highest  pro- 
duction of  which  she  was  capable,  and  to  determining  whether 
she  were  yielding  an  adequate  profit. 

Major  and  Minor  Projects.  —  While  the  above  does  not  con- 
stitute by  any  means  a  complete  list  of  possible  major  proj- 
ects, it  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  of  the  many  and  diversified 
kinds  of  projects  that  might  be  feasible  for  use  in  the  part-time 
work  under  consideration.  A  major  project  may  include  a  great 
many  minor  projects. 

Minor  Projects  are  related  to  Major  Projects  as  Parts  to  the 
Whole.  —  Minor  projects  include  all  the  diversified  activities 
which  the  boy  must  perform  in  order  to  bring  the  major  project 
which  he  had  undertaken  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

Details  of  a  Project  Suitable  for  First  or  Second  Year  In- 
struction. —  Later  in  this  discussion  (pages  56-60)  details  are 
given  of  a  project  suitable  for  use  with  third  or  fourth  year 
students.  The  subject  in  that  case  is  a  staple  product  likely 
to  be  grown  on  every  farm,  or  at  least  in  every  farm  garden. 


45 

At  this  point  in  the  present  chapter  it  is  desirable  that  the 
possible  working  out  of  the  project  method  of  instruction  should 
be  illustrated  by  details  of  a  subject  which  would  be  suitable 
for  use  with  students  of  the  first  or  second  year. 

In  the  list  of  major  projects  above  given,  the  second,  "  Keep- 
ing a  Pen  of  Poultry,"  will,  perhaps,  best  serve  this  purpose. 
This  project  permits  of  clear  analysis.  It  is  sufficiently  familiar 
to  make  intelligible  such  technical  terms  as  it  may  be  necessary 
to  use.  It  deals  with  a  branch  of  agricultural  production  found 
on  every  farm  and  at  many  village  homes ;  yet  a  branch  from 
which,  when  conducted  on  a  strictly  business  basis,  it  is  very 
difficult  to  make  a  profit.  It  has  to  do  with  farm  products  which 
are  of  very  great  economic  importance  for  the  advancement  of 
agriculture  in  this  State;  since  Massachusetts,  while  admirably 
suited  for  poultry  keeping,  imports  $25,000,000  of  poultry  and 
eggs  annually,  and  produces  less  than  $6,000,000  worth  per 
year.  (See  "  Agriculture  of  Massachusetts,"  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  1909,  page  119.) 

Owing  to  the  attention  now  being  given  poultry  keeping  by 
the  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment  stations,  materials  for 
teaching  the  subject  scientifically  and  practically  are  increasing, 
and  make  this  one  of  the  most  promising  lines  of  project  in- 
struction for  school  use.  Poultry  keeping  affords  one  of  the 
best  projects  for  transition  from  the  boy's  treatment  of  animals 
as  pet  stock  to  his  treatment  of  them  as  vital  factors  in  economic 
agricultural  production. 

Important  as  this  poultry  project  is,  however,  it  will,  of 
course,  be  understood  that  there  are  many  other  projects  suitable 
for  first  and  second  year  use.  This  project  is  but  a  single 
example  of  the  many  which  might  have  been  given. 

Minor  Projects.  —  Suppose  the  major  project  in  preparation 
for  purposes  of  instruction  be  ~No.  2,  above  given,  "  Keeping  a 
Pen  of  Poultry."  Then  certain  minor  projects  necessary  for 
carrying  out  this  major  project  might  be:  - 

1.  The  building  of  a  poultry  house  (if  necessary),  according 
to  plans  and  specifications  worked  out  at  the  schoolhouse.  This 
minor  project  in  turn  could  be  broken  up  into  a  number  of 


46 

subordinate   minor   projects   necessary   to   its   successful   com- 
pletion, such  as :  — 

(1)  The  Selection  of  a  Site  for  the  Poultry  House.  —  Here 
the  decision  made  might  take  into  consideration :  - 

A.  The  suitability  of  the  soil  for  poultry  culture. 

B.  The  condition  of  the  underdrainage  of  the  site,  and  the  possibilities 

of  securing  proper  surface  conditions. 

C.  Conditions  of  sunlight  and  shade  as  factors  in  the  proper  care  of 

fowls. 

D.  Convenience  of  access  from  house  and  barn. 

(2)  The  Adoption  of  a  Plan  for  the  Poultry  House.  —  Here 
the  decision  made  might  take  into  consideration :  — 

A.  The  style  of  construction  best  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which 

the  structure  was  to  be  used. 

B.  The  size  of  the  poultry  house  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  project. 

C.  The  fittings  which  would  be  most  sanitary,  most  convenient,   and 

therefore  on  the  whole  most  economical. 

(3)  The  Materials  entering  into  the  Construction  of  the  Poul- 
try House  (involving  kind,  cost  and  availability).  —  Such  ques- 
tions as  these  would  naturally  present  themselves :  - 

A.  Should  the  foundation  be  permanent,  or  temporary? 

B.  What  sizes  of  dimension  stock  would  be  required? 

C.  Should  the  flooring  be  earth,  boards  or  cement? 

D.  Should  the  siding  be  rough,  or  planed;  matched,  battened,  or  pro- 

tected by  paper? 

E.  Should  the  roofing  be  shingles,  matched  or  battened  boards,  metal, 

or  some  form  of  patented  roofing  of  the  rubberoid  type? 

F.  Should  the  building  be  painted ;  and,  if  so,  what  would  be  the  best- 

wearing  and  most  economical  color  and  mixture?    When  should 
the  paint  be  applied? 

2.  The  selection  of  birds.,  as  determined  by  the  purpose  in 
keeping  them  (whether  for  show  stock  or  utility,  breeding  or 
egg  producing).  This  minor  project  in  turn  might  be  broken 
up  into  a  number  of  subordinate  minor  projects  necessary  to  its 
successful  completion,  such  as :  — 

(1)  The  Choice  of  Type  and  Breed.  —  Such  questions  as 
these  would  naturally  present  themselves :  — 


47 

A.  Is  a  meat  type  of  bird  desired;  and,  if  so,  what  is  the  best  breed 

or  type1?    Is  color  of  any  importance? 

B.  Is  the  egg  type  desired;  and,  if  so,  what  variety?    Should  the  color 

of  the  egg  be  a  determining  factor? 

C.  Among  what  may  be  termed  general-purpose  types,  what  may  be 

considered  the  best  stock  both  for  egg  production  and  for  final 
finishing  as  table  birds? 

(2)  The  Choice  of  Breeding  Stock. 

A.  When  should  breeding  stock  be  selected  and  assembled  for  produc- 

tion of  the  eggs  required  for  hatching? 

B.  Should  close  attention  be  paid  to  breed  shape? 

C.  To  what  extent  and  for  what  reasons  should  color  and  plumage  be 

determining  factors? 

(3)  The  Choice  of  Method  of  Beginning  the  Project. 

A.  Should  the  beginning  be  made  with  eggs;  and,  if  so,  where  can  the 

eggs  of  the  breed  and  type  desired  be  secured?     What  would 
they  cost,  and  when  should  they  be  ordered? 

B.  Would  it  be  more  economical  to  begin  operations  with  incubator 

chicks  a  few  days  old?    If  so,  where  could  such  chicks  be  had, 
when  could  they  be  had,  and  at  what  cost? 

C.  Should  the  beginning  be  made  with  full-grown  birds?    Where  could 

they  be  had,  when,  and  at  what  cost? 

3.  The  Feeding  of  the  Poultry.  —  This  minor  project  might 
in  turn  involve  a  number  of  subordinate  minor  projects  necessary 
to  its  successful  completion,  such  as :  — 

(1)  The  Selection  of  the  Kinds  of  Feed.  —  Such  questions  as 
these  might  naturally  present  themselves :  — 

A.  When  should  hard  grains  be  used? 

B.  What  are  the  merits  of  ground  grains,  as  distinguished  from  hard 

grains  ? 

C.  Under   what    circumstances    are    mixtures    and    mashes    desirable? 

Should  these  be  fed  wet,  or  dry;   and  should  they  be  home- 
made, or  bought  on  the  market? 

D.  In  what  proportions  should  animal  feed  be  provided,  and  in  what 

form  or  forms  could  it  be  most  economically  fed,  —  in  beef 
scraps,  for  example,  or  in  green  bone? 

E.  Should  green  feed  be  furnished?     For  winter  feeding,  what  quan- 

tity, if  any,  of  cabbages  and  roots  should  be  stored? 


48 

(2)  Working  out  Problems  of  Feeding.  —  Such  questions  as 
these  might  naturally  present  themselves :  — 

A.  To  what  extent  should  there  be  a  variety  of  feeds'? 

B.  What  relationship  do  feeding  and  exercise   bear  to   each  other? 

Should  dry  grain  be  fed  in  the  litter,  or  be  fed  in  hoppers,  or 
both?  What  differences  should  there  be,  if  any,  between  feed- 
ing on  free  range  and  feeding  in  confinement1? 

C.  What  part  should  grit,  oyster  shells  or  charcoal  form  of  the  ration, 

and  for  what  reasons? 

D.  To  what  extent  might  feeds  be  grown  at  home,  and  to  what  extent 

must  they  be  bought  on  the  market? 

4.  Other  minor  projects  within  the  major  project  of  "  Keep- 
ing a  Pen  of  Poultry,"  which  might  also  be  analyzed  into 
numerous  subordinate  minor  projects,  each  necessary  to  the  suc- 
cessful performance  of  the  larger  minor  project  and  the  major 
project  of  which  it  forms  a  part,  are:  — 

(1)  The  production  of  eggs  with  profit. 

(2)  The  production  of  chicks  by  incubator. 

(3)  The  care  of  chicks  by  artificial  brooding. 

(4)  The  rearing  of  chicks. 

(5)  The  handling  of  young  stock. 

(6)  The  fattening  and  killing  of  poultry. 

(7)  The  marketing  of  eggs  and  birds. 

In  like  manner,  every  major  project  similar  to  those  hereto- 
fore described,  chosen  by  the  school  for  purposes  of  instruction, 
might  be  analyzed  into  the  minor  projects  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed, both  in  order  that  the  various  activities  of  the  boy  in  the 
successful  accomplishment  of  the  major  project  might  be  effec- 
tively directed  and  supervised,  and,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  in 
order  that  the  theories  and  principles  related  to  the  different 
phases  of  his  task  might  be  given  at  the  time  when  they  would 
be  most  effective  from  the  practical  and  the  educational  points 
of  view. 

Three  factors  must,  it  is  believed,  determine  the  measure  of 
success  in  any  given  plan  of  part-time  work  in  agriculture: 
(1)  the  farmer  and  his  farm;  (2)  the  school  and  its  agricul- 
tural supervisor;  (3)  the  boy  and  his  projects. 

1.  The  farmer  and  his  farm  must  constitute  the  fundamental 


49 

factor  in  the  practical  training  of  the  boy.  There  could  be  little 
effective  work  in  the  field  of  part-time  training  for  the  farm 
without  a  reasonable  spirit  of  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the 
parent. 

There  are  at  least  three  ways  in  which  the  parent  could  aid 
in  making  the  directed  farm  experience  of  the  boy  more  educa- 
tive: (1)  in  the  use  of  the  home  plant;  (2)  in  the  use  of  the 
home  time  of  the  pupil;  (3)  in  giving  the  boy's  projects 
economic  importance. 

(1)  In  the  Use  of  the  Home  Plant.  —  One  of  the  most  es- 
sential features  of  the  co-operative  part-time  plan  between  home 
and  school  is  that  the  parent  should  be  willing  to  devote  from 
time  to  time,  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  the  supervisor  or 
teacher  in  charge  of  the  work,  a  reasonable  portion  of  his  build- 
ings, orchards,  garden,  pasture,  forest  and  other  fields,  and  of 
his  implements  and  machines,   animals  and  materials,  to  the 
directed  training  of  the  boy. 

(2)  In  the  use  of  the  home  time  of  the  pupil  the  fullest  value 
of  the  agricultural  course  will  come  from  the  fullest  possible 
participation  of  the  boy  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  farm  work 
as  usually  carried  out  by  the  parent;  but  the  greatest  benefit 
of  the  school  cannot  be  had  without  the  use  of  a  part  of  the 
boy's  time,  during  the  hours  spent  at  home,  for  strictly  school 
purposes.     The  following  are  a  few  of  many  illustrations  of 
what  might  be  the  directed  use  of  a  part  of  the  home  time  of  the 
pupils  in  the  pursuit  of  projects  suggested  and  directed  by  the 
school :  — 

A.  The  boy  might  help  with  the  milking  throughout  his  course,  where 

the  object  was  to  get  the  cows  milked  as  quickly  as  possible, 
and  where  no  records  were  kept.  During  certain  months  of  at 
least  one  year,  the  school  should  require  whatever  time  might 
be  necessary  for  keeping  an  accurate  record  in  pounds  and 
ounces  of  the  yield  of  a  part  of  the  herd.  This  might  be  limited 
to  the  weighing  of  milk  from  a  single  cow,  and  giving  the  cow 
credit  for  what  she  produced. 

B.  It  might  be  part  of  the  boy's  business  to  assist  in  feeding  the  cows. 

During  part  of  his  course,  sufficient  time  should  be  given  for 
weighing  the  ration  and  charging  at  least  one  cow  with  what  it 
cost  to  keep  her. 


50 

C.  In  the  ordinary  routine  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in  milking, 

much  or  little  attention  might  have  been  paid  to  cleanliness  of 
cows,  utensils  or  the  person  and  clothing  of  the  milker.  During 
part  of  his  time  in  school,  the  boy  should  be  given  whatever 
time  might  be  necessary  for  milking  at  least  one  cow  and  pre- 
serving her  milk  under  absolutely  sanitary  conditions,  and  for 
sampling  the  milk  for  bacteriological  tests. 

D.  In  the  ordinary  cropping  of  the  farm,  much  or  little  attention  might 

be  paid  to  leguminous  crops.  But  during  one  season  at  least, 
facilities  should  be  given  the  pupil  for  growing  a  patch  of 
moderate  size  of  clover,  and  for  observing  the  effect  of  intro- 
ducing a  large  proportion  of  clover  into  the  ration  of  the  cow. 

E.  In  the  ordinary  conduct  of  the  farm,  much  or  little  attention  might 

be  paid  to  the  selection  and  testing  of  corn  for  seed.  But 
prior  to  planting,  one  season  at  least,  the  boy  should  be  given 
whatever  time  might  be  necessary  for  making  germination  tests 
of  the  corn  which  it  was  proposed  to  plant. 

F.  Also,  during  one  season,  the  boy  should  be  given  control  of  a  portion 

of  a  corn  field  for  making  an  "  ear  to  row "  corn  test ;  for 
observing  the  difference  in  yield  from  different  ears  of  corn,  — 
all  the  corn  from  one  ear  being  planted  in  one  row  and  all  the 
corn  from  another  ear  being  planted  in  another  row. 

G.  In  the  ordinary  routine  of  the  farm,  it  might  be  the  business  of  the 

boy  to  tend  the  poultry.  During  at  least  one  year,  he  should 
be  given  control  of  at  least  one  pen  of  poultry,  and  facilities 
for  feeding  a  balanced  ration  and  trap  nesting  individual  birds 
for  comparison  of  productivity  in  laying. 

H.  It  might  be  part  of  the  usual  work  of  the  boy  to  help  cultivate  and 
harvest  the  potato  crop.  During  one  season  at  least,  he  should 
be  given  facilities  for  testing  the  value  of  the  use  of  formalin 
for  the  prevention  of  potato  scab,  and  of  the  Bordeaux  mixture 
for  protection  against  potato  blight. 

(3)  In  giving  the  boy's  projects  economic  importance,  the 
active  aid  of  the  parent  would  again  be  almost  indispensable. 

A.  Keeping  Accounts.  — Whether  or  not  the  parent  were  in 
the  hahit  of  keeping  books,  it  would  be  vital  to  the  success  of  the 
school  training  that  accurate  accounts  of  outgo  and  income 
should  he  kept  with  regard  to  certain  home  projects  directed  by 
the  school.  Every  boy  should  he  taught  business-like  methods 
for  carrying  on  work.  Modern  business  methods  provide  for 
discovering  exactly  where  money  is  made,  and  where  it  is  lost, 
at  any  stage  or  in  any  part  of  a  given  enterprise. 


51 

The  boy  should  be  given  opportunity  for  testing,  under  his 
home  conditions,  the  value  of  methods  which  have  proved  effi- 
cacious in  business.  The  school,  to  be  effective,  must  teach 
economic  production  in  every  phase  of  farm  life  for  which  it 
gives  preparation.  Moreover,  accounting  is  necessary  to  any 
intelligent  comparison  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  method  advo- 
cated by  the  school  with  that  of  the  method  previously  followed. 

B.  Projects  as  Business  Enterprises.  —  If  the  experiences 
of  the  boy  in  the  farming  projects  are  to  be  educative  to  the 
largest  degree,  it  is  believed  that  they  should  be  conducted 
strictly  as  business  enterprises.  Four  methods  of  meeting  the 
problem  of  the  cost  and  profit  of  these  directed  farming  opera- 
tions would  be  possible:  (a)  the  parent  might  meet  all  the  cost, 
and  give  the  boy  all  the  profit ;  (6)  the  parent  might  meet  all  the 
cost,  and  retain  all  the  profit;  (c)  the  parent  might  meet  all  the 
cost,  and  share  the  profit  with  the  boy;  (d)  the  boy  might  re- 
ceive the  net  profit,  after  the  cost  of  the  project  had  been  paid. 

From  the  educational  point  of  view,  the  last  method,  by  which 
the  boy,  after  conducting  the  given  project  as  a  business  enter- 
prise, should  profit  only  to  the  extent  to  which  his  total  re- 
ceipts exceed  the  total  cost  of  the  enterprise,  is  believed  to  be  in 
every  way  preferable.  By  this  method  the  boy  would  learn, 
once  for  all,  through  his  own  experience,  that  there  can  be  no 
product  without  cost,  and  no  profit  without  excess  of  receipts 
over  all  expenditures.  After  such  an  experience,  he  would  not 
be  likely  to  undertake  a  new  enterprise  without  a  serious  at- 
tempt to  estimate  accurately  his  probable  profit.  The  boy  would 
be  subjected  to  the  prevailing  economic  conditions  under  which 
the  home  farm  must  yield  a  profit,  or  a  loss,  at  the  end  of  each 
year  of  work. 

The  method  by  which  the  boy  became  on  a  small  scale  a 
farmer  or  a  business  man  for  himself  would  give  the  project 
which  he  was  carrying  on  a  reality  not  otherwise  attainable, 
that  must  heighten  measurably  his  interest  in  the  work  and  in 
the  related  study  of  the  school,  and  must  fix  better  than  by  any 
other  device  the  training  which  he  was  receiving. 

Incidentally,  it  may  be  remarked  that,  as  a  matter  of  public 
spirit,  the  citizens  of  the  community  might  do  much  to  further 


52 

the  objects  of  the  school  by  admitting  the  agricultural  instructor 
or  supervisor  and  his  students  to  their  premises,  for  the  exam- 
ination of  animals,  machines  and  all  out-door  and  in-door  opera- 
tions, and  by  explanation  and  discussion  of  their  methods  of 
accounting  and  their  improved  farming  processes.  At  another 
point  in  this  discussion  the  possible  fields  of  usefulness  to  a 
community  of  such  an  instructor  or  supervisor  are  pointed  out. 
Effective  service  on  the  part  of  the  supervisor  in  the  field  of 
helpful  suggestion  there  mentioned  could  be  rendered  only 
where  there  was  a  cordial  attitude  of  co-operation  on  the  part 
of  the  people  in  the  community  who  were  desirous  of  either 
the  improvement  of  rural  conditions  in  general  or  the  better- 
ment of  their  own  farms. 

2.  The  School  and  its  Supervisor.  —  Whether  part-time  work 
in  agriculture  were  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  a  separate 
agricultural  school  or  of  a  separate  department  in  a  regular 
high  school,  it  is  believed  that  it  would  require  the  services  of 
a  trained  and  experienced  agriculturist,  who  should  devote  his 
entire  time  to  teaching  the  principles  and  the  best  methods  of 
farming.  It  is  believed,  further,  that  largely  through  this  in- 
structor or  supervisor  of  agriculture  the  school  should:  (1) 
choose  the  projects  to  be  undertaken  by  the  boy;  (2)  direct  his 
work  in  the  discharge  of  his  projects;  and  (3)  put  him  in  pos- 
session of  the  principles  that  relate  to  them. 

(1)  In  the  selection  of  the  projects  to  be  undertaken  by  the 
boy,  the  instructor  should  take  into  consideration :  — 

A.  What  farming  enterprises  are  profitable,  or  could  be  made  so,  in  the 

neighborhood. 
£.  The  age  of  the  boy. 

C.  The  kinds  of  projects  that  would  be  feasible  on  the  home  farm. 

D.  The  boy's  routine  farm  work  at  home. 

E.  The  assistance  that  the  father  could  afford  to  give  in  materials  and 

equipment. 

F.  The  suitability  of  the  project  to  the  season  of  the  year. 

G.  The  projects  and  portions  of  projects  that  could  best  be  carried  out 

at  the  school,  and  the  best  time  on  the  program  of  the  year  for 
these  parts  of  the  work  to  be  done. 

The  problem  of  the  building  of  a  poultry  house  by  the  boy 
would  be  one  of  the  possible  minor  projects,  as  before  shown, 
when  the  larger  project  of  keeping  a  pen  of  poultry  was  under 


53 

consideration.      This   problem   would   naturally   involve    such 
questions  as  these :  — 

A.  Would  the  student  have  the  necessary  time? 

B.  Could  the  necessary  materials  be  provided  by  the  parent  or  student? 

C.  How  much  personal  supervision  of  the  actual  work  of  construction 

would  be  necessary  or  advisable  on  the  part  of  the  supervisor? 

D.  Would  profitable  poultry  keeping  on  a  given  home  farm  require 

the  improved  accommodations  which  the  model  poultry  house, 
built  by  the  student,  would  furnish? 

E.  How  far  would  conformity  to  the  standards  set  up  by  the  school 

be  necessary  in  determining  what  would  be  a  model  type  of 
poultry  house  for  a  given  farm? 

F.  In  what  year  of  the  school  course  should  the  building  of  a  poultry 

house  be  undertaken,  in  order  that  the  training  in  poultry 
keeping  might  be  made  most  profitable? 

G.  What  time  of  the  year  could  the  student  build  a  poultry  house  to 

best  advantage? 

The  problem  of  conducting  the  building  of  the  poultry  house 
as  a  strictly  business  enterprise  is  a  project  which  would 
naturally  involve  these  questions :  — 

A.  To  what  extent,  if  at  all,  could  the  boy  be  required  to  meet,  or  be 

charged  with,  all  cost  save  his  own  labor,  and  be  credited  with 
a  fair  inventory  valuation  of  the  completed  structure? 

B.  If  the  parent  must  advance  the  money  or  materials,  what  rate  of 

interest,  if  any,  should  be  charged  the  boy? 

C.  What  method  of  accounting  should  be  adopted? 

D.  Should  such  records  be  kept  as  would  enable  the  cost  of  this  build- 

ing to  be  compared  with  other  similar  buildings  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, as  a  check  upon  the  business-like  character  of  the  boy's 
working  out  of  this  project? 

(2)  In  directing  the  work  of  the  boy  in  the  discharge  of  his 
projects,  the  school  must  of  necessity,  it  is  believed,  undertake 
the  supervision  of  a  portion  of  his  work  at  home.  Supervision 
of  part-time  work  in  agriculture  would  not  be  an  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  school  to  interfere  with  the  private  management 
of  the  farms  of  the  parents.  Supervision  would,  nevertheless, 
be  a  continuous  effort  by  the  school  to  assist,  advise  and  en- 
courage the  students  in  applying  under  home  conditions,  farm 
methods  which  had  proved  successful  elsewhere,  and  thus  to 
cause  the  practical  training  of  the  students  to  result  in  voca- 
tional efficiency. 


54 

The  instructor  would  not  undertake  to  supervise  all  the  de- 
tails of  the  farm  management  on  any  given  farm.  Daily  super- 
vision would  be  impossible,  because  of  the  number  of  farms  to 
which  the  work  of  the  school  must  be  extended.  Excessive 
attention  to  minute  details  of  farm  work  on  the  part  of  the 
instructor  might  create  needless  friction  between  himself  and 
the  parent,  or  might  interfere  materially  with  the  supervision 
of  a  proper  amount  of  project  work.  It  is,  therefore,  not  con- 
templated. 

The  school  should  not,  it  is  believed,  undertake  to  shift  re- 
sponsibility for  the  economic  management  of  a  farm  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  parent  to  the  shoulders  of  the  public. 

The  instructor  would  undertake  to  supervise  certain  selected 
major  projects  and  their  related  minor  projects  performed  by 
the  boy  at  home.  In  a  given  year  and  season  attention  might, 
for  instance,  be  concentrated  upon  the  project  of  keeping  a  pen 
of  poultry.  Having  given  the  study  related  to  this  project,  the 
instructor  would  supervise  the  application  of  that  study.  The 
following  examples  illustrate  what  the  character  of  such  super- 
vision might  be :  — 

A.  In  the  building  of  the  poultry  house,  the  actual  work  of  putting 

up  the  structure  might,  or  might  not,  be  supervised  by  the 
instructor.  All  other  elements  or  phases  of  the  enterprise, 
as  indicated  by  the  outline,  should  be  worked  out  by  the 
student  under  the  direction  of  the  school. 

B.  The  course  in  farm  shop  work  of  the  school  might  well  undertake 

to  deal  with  the  problem  of  the  actual  construction  of  the 
poultry  house. 

C.  It  would  be  the  duty  of  the  instructor  or  supervisor  to  canvass 

thoroughly  with  the  student  the  relative  merits  of  different 
types  and  methods  of  poultry  keeping,  from  the  points  of  view 
before  indicated.  His  supervision  might  go  the  extent  of 
passing  judgment  on  any  proposed  purchase  of  breeding  stock, 
chicks  or  eggs. 

Z>.  The  supervisor  would  not  personally  direct  the  daily  routine  work 
of  feeding  and  watering  poultry.  His  duties  would  consist  of 
directing  the  thorough  study  of  possible  feeds  and  mixtures, 
their  comparative  cost  and  availability,  and  their  suitability  to 
the  age,  condition  and  purpose  of  the  student's  particular  birds. 
For  such  supervision  personal  knowledge  by  the  instructor  of 
the  exact  home  conditions  would  be  necessary. 


55 

The  supervision  of  the  practical  home  work  of  the  boy  or  girl 
would  naturally  follow  the  settlement  of  such  problems  as 
these :  — 

A.  How  could  supervision  and  instruction  be  closely  correlated? 

B.  How  should  the  time  of  the  instructor  and  of  the  pupil  be  appor- 

tioned between  home  and  school  duties? 

C.  What  would  be  the  maximum  radius,  from  the  school  building  as 

a  center,  of  effective  supervision? 

D.  What  methods  might  be  employed  for  securing  and  holding  the 

co-operation  of  the  parent  and  the  community? 

E.  By  what  means  might  satisfactory  standards  in  the  practical  work 

of  the  student  be  maintained? 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
the  special  instructor  or  supervisor  of  agriculture  in  the  field  of 
direction  of  the  boy's  projects  on  the  home  farm. 

The  instructor  might  undertake  to  give  help  to  others  than 
those  connected  with  his  school.  There  are  not  wanting  those 
who  believe  that  such  an  agricultural  instructor  attached  to  a 
regular  high  school  might  render  valuable  service  to  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  was  employed,  in  what  might  be  termed  the 
field  of  suggestion.  Considering  the  previous  training  and  ex- 
perience required  of  this  instructor,  he  should  be  a  man  well 
prepared  to  be  of  wide  assistance  in  a  farming  community  as  an 
advisor  in  emergencies  which  called  for  special  knowledge  and 
skill.  If  met  by  a  problem  with  which  he  could  not  cope  un- 
aided, —  and  there  might  be  many  such  problems,  —  he  would 
know  the  best  men.  books  and  bulletins  for  consultation  in  such 
emergencies.  Such  problems  might  arise  from  attacks  upon 
crops  by  injurious  insects  or  by  fungous  diseases. 

The  friendly  advice  which  the  agricultural  instructor  might 
give  need  not  mean  a  meddlesome  attitude  on  his  part.  His 
suggestions  would  not  be  given  save  when  requested,  or  when 
it  was  evident  that  they  would  be  welcome. 

The  field  of  suggestion  would  naturally  begin  with  farms 
represented  in  the  school  by  students.  The  instructor  would  of 
course  stand  ready  to  give  the  parents  any  advice  of  which  he 
might  be  capable,  or  to  get  for  them,  or  instruct  them  how  to 
get,  any  information  which  they  might  need  or  desire.  With  the 


56 

gradual  extension  of  his  knowledge  to  the  other  farms  of  the 
community,  he  might  be  expected  to  stand  ready  in  a  similar 
manner  to  be  of  assistance  to  the  owners  of  those  farms. 

3.  The  boy  and  his  projects  form  a  natural  connecting  link 
between  the  farmer  and  his  farm,  on  one  hand,  and  the  school 
and  its  instructor,  on  the  other.  At  the  farm,  the  pupil  deals 
with  the  practical  aspects  of  his  projects;  and  at  the  school,  with 
their  scientific  aspects.  The  foregoing  discussion  has  been  de- 
voted chiefly  to  the  practical  aspects  of  the  proposed  project 
method  of  instruction.  The  present  section  lays  strongest  em- 
phasis on  the  related  study  essential  for  the  successful  carrying 
out  of  a  particular  project. 

Details  of  a  Project  Suitable  for  Third  or  Fourth  Year  In- 
struction. —  Earlier  in  this  chapter  a  project  was  dealt  with 
which  might,  for  the  most  part,  be  successfully  carried  out  by 
a  first  or  second  year  student.  For  the  present  discussion  a 
project  has  been  selected  which  would  require  considerable 
maturity  of  age,  strength  and  training  for  its  successful  accom- 
plishment. It  is  true  that  simpler  problems  in  potato  growing 
have  been  successfully  carried  out  by  elementary  school  pupils ; 
but  even  a  glance  over  the  elements  which  enter  into  the  proj- 
ect now  to  be  outlined  will  show  that  problems  altogether  too 
serious  to  be  comprehended  or  undertaken  by  the  younger  pupil 
are  here  involved. 

It  is  to  be  understood,  of  course,  that  the  following  project  is 
but  one  of  many  which  might  be  selected. 

(1)  Major  Project.  —  It  is  assumed  that  the  boy  has  chosen 
for  his  major  project  the  development  of  a  method  for  increas- 
ing the  profit  from  the  potato  crop  customarily  grown  on  the 
home  farm.     It  is  further  assumed  that  5  acres  of  potatoes  are 
generally  grown;  that  this  year  the  crop  is  to  be  grown  on 
clover  sod;  that  the  variety  of  potatoes  to  be  grown  has  been 
chosen  by  the  father;  and  that  the  boy's  father  is  willing  that 
his  boy  shall  have  complete  control  of  a  given  number  of  rows 
of  the  5-acre  field,  and  shall  be  furnished  the  necessary  tools 
and  materials  for  his  project. 

(2)  Minor  projects  necessary  for   carrying  out  the   above 
major  project  might  then  be  as  follows :  — 


57 

A.  Insuring  the  most  abundant  crop  by:  — 

a.  A  Proper  Seed  Bed.  —  The  related  study  here  would  involve 

knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Conditions  of  soil,  air,  texture,  temperature  and 
moisture  most  favorable  to  the  growth  of  the  potato 
plant,  including  methods  of  reducing  an  undesirable 
amount  of  "  free  "  water,  of  avoiding  too  great  dilu- 
tion of  plant  food,  and  of  securing  a  desirable  amount 
of  "  film  "  water. 

(b)  Methods  of  preparing  the  seed  bed,  including  the  com- 
parative advantages  of  fall  and  spring  plowing,  and 
the  best  treatment  of  the  land  in  the  spring  after 
plowing  and  prior  to  planting. 

b.  Proper   Fertilizing.  —  The   related   study   here   would   include 

knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Chemical  composition  of  the  potato  plant,  its  osmotic 

and  digestive  processes,  and  the  quantity  of  available 
fertilizing  materials  it  is  capable  of  assimilating. 

(b)  Complete  fertilizers  for  the  production  of  potatoes,  in- 

cluding analyses  of  standard  fertilizers,  and  the 
plant-food  values  for  potato  growing  of  chemicals  and 
mixtures  offered  for  purchase. 

(c)  Comparative   desirability   of  muriate   and   sulphate   of 

potash  for  producing  a  crop  to  be  disposed  of  in  an 
immature  state  as  new  potatoes,  or  for  producing  a 
crop  of  late  potatoes  to  be  disposed  of  for  winter 
use ;  and  the  extent  to  which  the  "  mealy  "  character 
of  the  mature  crop  should  be  the  determining  factor 
in  choosing  between  these  two  kinds  of  potash. 

(d)  Clover  sod  as  a  factor  in  determining  the  proportion  of 

nitrogen  to  be  supplied. 

(e)  Best  formula  for  a  complete  fertilizer  for  this  particular 

crop,  taking  into  account  the  potato  plant,  the  previous 
crops  and  their  fertilizer  treatment  in  the  system  of 
crop  rotation  followed  on  the  home  farm,  the  present 
soil  conditions  arid  the  purpose  of  the  crop. 
(/)  Most  liberal  amount  of  fertilizer  warranted  for  use  in 
growing  this  particular  crop,  in  view  of  the  known 
condition  of  the  land  and  the  assimilative  powers  of 
the  potato  plant;  and  the  saving  in  cost  by  home  mix- 
ing of  the  supply  to  be  used. 

c.  Using  the  Best  Seed.  —  The  related  study  here  would  include 

knowledge  of :  — 


58 

(a)  Botanical  characteristics  of  the  potato  plant;  the  dif- 

ference between  a  seed  and  a  tuber;  and  potato  im- 
provement by  various  methods  and  conditions  of 
propagation,  taking  into  account  tendencies  of  the 
potato  plant  to  "  variation  "  and  to  "  mixing  in  the 
hill." 

(b)  Importance    of   planting   "seed"   selected   in   the   field 

from  the  best-yielding  hills,  rather  than  seed  selected 
from  the  bin  merely  by  size  of  tubers. 

(c)  Advantage  of  using  potatoes  for  planting  which  have 

been  properly  stored,  and  the  effects  of  freezing  and 
sprouting  in  the  cellar. 

(d)  Conditions  under  which  it  may  be  desirable  to  sprout 

potatoes  to  be  used  for  planting,  in  a  warm,  well- 
lighted  room,  —  the  temperature,  the  time  and  the  care 
in  handling  required  for  such  sprouting. 

(e)  Size  of  piece  and  number  of  eyes  to  the  piece,  as  im- 

portant factors  in  starting  the  crop  and  in  the  quan- 
tity of  its  yield. 

d.  Proper    Planting.  —  The    related    study    here    would    include 

knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Botanical    and    chemical    characteristics    of   the    potato 

plant,  as  to  its  feeding  habits,  the  growth  of  the  tubers, 
and  the  effect  on  the  tubers  as  food  products  of  ex- 
posure to  the  sun  during  their  growth. 

(b)  Distances  between  rows,  and  between  seed  pieces  in  the 

row. 

(c)  Depth  of  planting,  in  its  relation  to  protection  of  the 

tubers  from  the  sun,  shielding  the  crop  from  possible 
rot-producing  bacteria  and  spores,  and  subsequent 
cultivation,  whether  by  the  "  level "  or  by  the  "  hill " 
method. 

(d)  Best  time   for   planting,   whether  for   "  early "   or   for 

"  late  "  potatoes. 

e.  Proper    Spraying.  —  The    related    study    here    would    include 

knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Botanical  characteristics  of  the  potato  plant,  particularly 

the  relation  of  health  and  luxuriance  of  foliage  to 
tuber  production. 

(b)  Insect  enemies  of  the  potato  plant,  and  their  entomo- 

logical characteristics,  such  as  their  methods  of  propa- 
gation and  their  feeding  habits. 

(c)  Depredations  of  insects,  and  their  possible  relation  to 

attacks  upon  the  potato  plant  by  plant  diseases. 


59 

(d)   Paris   green:    its   chemical   composition;    its    protective 
action  against  the  insect  enemies  of  the  potato  plant; 
dangers  attendant  upon  its  use;  its  possible  combina- 
tion with  Bordeaux  mixture;   and  the  best  formula, 
method  of  preparation  and  periods  for  its  application. 
/.  Proper   Cultivation.  — The  related   study  here  would  include 
knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Physical    characteristics    of    the    soil,    particularly    the 

capillary  movement  of  water  to  the  surface  of  the 
soil,  and  exhaustion  of  soil  moisture  by  evaporation. 

(b)  Surface   conditions  most   favorable   for   receiving  rain 

water  without  washing,  puddling  or  subsequent 
baking. 

(c)  Value  of  a  "  soil  mulch,"  and  the  most  desirable  method 

and  frequency  of  cultivation  for  maintaining  such  a 
mulch. 

(d)  Comparative  cost  and  advantages  of  "  level "  and  "  hill  " 

cultivation,  and  reasons  for  the  choice  of  the  par- 
ticular method  to  be  followed  in  cultivating  the  present 
crop. 

B.  Insuring  the  cleanest  crop  by :  — 

a.  Dipping  the  "seed"  potatoes  in  a  formalin  solution.     The  re- 

lated study  here  would  involve  knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Plant  parasites  which  produce  "  scabby  "  potatoes,  and 

the  biological  conditions  favorable  and  antagonistic 
to  their  growth. 

(b)  Formalin  solution:  its  chemical  constitution;  its  chemi- 

cal action  on  these  damaging  potato  parasites;  and 
the  proper  formula  and  method  for  its  use  in  pro- 
tecting the  potato  crop. 

b.  Substitution  of  chemical  fertilizers  for  barnyard  manure.     The 

related  study  here  would  involve  knowledge  of :  — 

(a)  Dangers  of  infection  from  the  use  of  barnyard  manure. 

(b)  Dangers  of  infection,  if  any,  from  the  use  of  chemical 

fertilizers. 

C.  Insuring   the   soundest   crop    by   spraying   the   potato   plants   with 

Bordeaux    mixture.      The    related    study    here    would    involve 
knowledge  of :  — 

a.  Bacterial  and  fungous  diseases  to  which  the  potato  plant  is 

subject;  evidences  of  their  presence;  and  whether  or  not 
they  are  preventable. 

b.  Bordeaux  mixture:   its   chemical   composition;    its    protective 

action  against  potato-plant  diseases;  and  the  best  formula, 
method  of  preparation  and  periods  of  application  for  its 
use. 


60 

D.  Other  minor  projects  would  include  the  most  profitable  means  and 
methods  of  harvesting,  storing  and  marketing  the  crop.  And 
other  study  related  to  these  projects  would  include  knowledge 
of  potato  implements  and  machines  and  their  use ;  the  compara- 
tive advantages  of  field  pit  and  cellar  for  storage;  principles 
and  means  of  ventilation,  and  the  temperature  at  which  potatoes 
should  be  kept ;  near  and  more  distant  markets,  and  comparative 
transportation  cost;  prices  and  the  probable  tendency  of  prices, 
in  view  of  the  press  and  government  reports  of  the  potato  crop 
for  the  State,  New  England,  the  country  and  the  world. 

General  Observations  on  Related  Study.  —  The  study  related 
to  the  work  of  carrying  out  this  potato  project  embraces,  there- 
fore, important  matter  from  several  sciences,  including  botany, 
chemistry,  physics,  entomology,  bacteriology  and  plant  pathol- 
ogy. For  the  calculations,  mathematics  would  be  necessary ;  for 
keeping  the  accounts,  bookkeeping  would  be  required ;  for  correct 
correspondence,  there  should  be  training  in  business  English; 
consideration  of  transportation,  markets  and  world  production 
would  involve  knowledge  of  commercial  and  agricultural  geog- 
raphy. 

The  project  method  of  instruction  on  the  side  of  related  study, 
thus,  it  will  be  evident,  must  insure  that  the  boy,  in  carrying  out 
his  projects,  shall  pass  through  a  thorough-going  educational 
process. 

Good  Citizenship.  —  It  is  proposed,  furthermore,  that  the 
division  of  time,  in  carrying  out  the  school  and  home  farm 
co-operative  method  of  training,  shall  be  about  as  follows:  for 
the  execution  of  the  projects,  including  work  during  vacations 
and  other  out-of -school  hours,  50  per  cent. ;  and  for  the  related 
study,  30  per  cent.  The  remaining  20  per  cent,  of  the  time  of 
the  boy  is  expected  to  be  used  for  general  culture  and  good  citi- 
zenship instruction,  wherein  systematic  courses  may  be  provided 
in  such  subjects  as  English,  history,  civics,  current  events,  math- 
ematics and  science. 

Conclusion.  —  It  is  believed  that  the  vocational  education  for 
farming  proposed  in  this  report,  and  embodying  the  project  and 
part-time  work  method  outlined  in  the  present  chapter,  will 


61 

justify  itself  from  every  reasonable  point  of  view,  and  that  the 
system  of  agricultural  schools  which  this  report  recommends 
will  prove  to  possess  undeniable  merit  as  training  schools,  both 
for  farming  as  a  definite  calling,  and  for  intelligent  and  vigorous 
participation  in  the  community  life  of  the  Commonwealth. 


62 


VI. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF   SECURING  COMPETENT   INSTRUCTORS 

FOR  A  SYSTEM  OF  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOLS 

IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

It  would  seem  evident  from  the  preceding  discussion  of  the 
duties  and  the  opportunities  of  the  instructor  in  agriculture 
that  he  is  probably  the  most  important  factor  in  the  training  of 
the  youth  for  productive  and  profitable  farming. 

Whether  he  be  employed  in  a  separate  agricultural  school 
or  as  an  expert  in  charge  of  an  agricultural  department  in  a 
regular  high  school,  the  special  instructor  or  supervisor  in  agri- 
cultural education  should  bring  to  the  work  certain  qualifications 
as  to  preparation,  experience  and  personality. 

He  should  be  a  Graduate  of  an  Agricultural  College.  —  His 
preparation  should  include  graduation  from  an  agricultural 
college  or  its  equivalent.  He  should  be  familiar  with  and  keep 
in  touch  with  the  officers  and  the  work  of  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College  and  Experiment  Station;  and  he  should 
keep  in  touch  with  the  experiment  stations  in  other  States 
where  work  is  being  done  under  conditions  similar  to  those  in 
Massachusetts. 

He  should  be  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  so  far  as  it  is  applicable  to  Mas- 
sachusetts. He  should  be  capable  of  keeping  in  touch  with  new 
literature  in  pamphlet,  periodical  and  book  form,  as  it  is  issued, 
and  to  the  extent  that  it  may  be  applicable  to  his  locality.  He 
should  be  familiar  with  the  work  of  organizations  concerned 
with  rural  progress  in  Massachusetts,  and  capable  of  heartily 
co-operating  with  their  officers. 

His  Experience.  —  Preferably,  such  a  person  undertaking 
to  prepare  for  agricultural  teaching  in  this  Commonwealth 
should  have  been  reared  on  a  Massachusetts  farm,  or  on  a  farm 
where  the  agricultural  operations  would  yield  experience  of 
value  for  work  in  this  State.  He  should  be  a  master  of  farming 
as  a  handicraft,  and  amply  able  to  demonstrate  the  things  which 
he  undertook  to  teach;  and  he  should  be  familiar  with,  and 


63 

be  able  to  demonstrate  the  use  of,  the  kinds  of  farm  machinery 
which  can  be  economically  used  on  a  Massachusetts  farm. 

His  Personality.  —  Since  he  must  teach,  such  an  instructor 
or  supervisor  must  be  effective  in  discipline;  that  is  to  say, 
in  the  handling  of  boys  and  girls.  He  must  be  prepared  to  meet 
people  in  his  community  pleasantly,  and  establish  agreeable 
working  relations  with  them.  He  must  be  prepared  to  maintain 
harmonious  relations  between  his  department  and  the  other 
departments  of  the  school,  and  be  amenable  to  the  authority  of 
the  officers  responsible  for  the  school  which  he  serves. 

The  duties  of  such  a  teacher  of  agriculture,  attached  to 
either  a  separate  agricultural  school  or  an  agricultural  depart- 
ment in  a  regular  high  school,  should  in  general  be  those  which 
were  indicated  in  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  activities  in 
the  field  of  part-time  work  in  agriculture  which  he  is  to  direct. 
His  school  year  might  provide,  at  the  discretion  of  the  school 
authorities,  for  service  during  the  spring,  summer  and  fall 
months,  giving  him  a  vacation  during  the  winter  months ;  rather 
than  for  service  during  the  fall,  winter  and  spring,  with  summer 
months  for  vacation  purposes.  Such  a  program  would  insure 
his  services  throughout  the  growing  and  harvesting  seasons. 

His  absence  during  winter  months  would  not  seriously  disturb 
the  curriculum  of  the  school;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  make 
room  for  the  teaching  of  related  subjects,  including  manual 
training  projects  related  to  the  farm,  by  other  members  of  the 
staff  to  the  lower  classes,  and  might  enable  the  higher  classes 
to  take  winter  short  courses  at  the  Agricultural  College.  Such 
a  program  would  enable  him  to  attend  winter  courses,  and  thus 
keep  in  touch  with  progress  in  agricultural  science,  and  become 
better  acquainted  with  men  engaged  in  research  and  experi- 
mental work. 

The  appointment  and  tenure  of  such  a  supervisor  should  be 
under  the  control  of  the  local  authorities,  but  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  State  Board.  Where  the  supervisor  is  to  serve  a 
separate  agricultural  school,  as  at  present  constituted  and  admin- 
istered under  the  Massachusetts  statutes,  or  an  agricultural  de- 
partment in  a  regular  high  school,  since  his  salary  in  either 
case  is  to  be  paid  in  part  by  the  local  community  and  in  part  by 
the  State,  it  would  probably  be  advisable  that  he  should  be  nom- 


64 

mated  by  the  local  authorities  and  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Education;  and  in  case  of  dismissal  for  cause,  it  would  prob- 
ably be  best  for  such  a  dismissal  to  be  approved  by  the  Board. 

Ordinarily,  the  yearly  term  of  service  for  such  a  supervisor 
should  be  from  the  first  day  of  April  of  any  given  year  to  the 
first  day  of  April  of  the  succeeding  year.  Dismissal  for  flagrant 
offense  should,  of  course,  be  immediate  and  without  notice. 

The  salary  of  such  a  supervisor  is  an  important  consideration. 
Experience  seems  to  show  that,  in  order  to  command  the  services 
of  a  man  having  the  technical  training,  practical  experience  and 
personality  called  for  in  the  above  discussion  of  the  necessary 
qualifications  of  a  successful  supervisor,  salaries  ranging  from 
$1,000  upwards  must  be  paid. 

In  Ontario,  where  salaries  for  teachers  and  specialists  of  every 
type  are  on  the  whole  less  than  in  the  States,  six  supervisors, 
with  advisory  and  teaching  duties,  were  engaged  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  co-operative  scheme  between  the  governmental  agencies 
for  agricultural  betterment  and  the  local  school  authorities. 
These  supervisors  were  paid  at  the  outset,  $1,000  per  year. 

The  Problem  of  Necessary  Salaries  is  an  Economic  One  at 
Bottom.  —  In  order  to  attract  to  the  work  a  supervisor  of  the 
type  herein  described,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  the  compensa- 
tion which  he  is  to  receive  as  good  as,  or  better  than,  that  which 
is  offered  to  him  in  competing  lines  of  work. 

By  competing  lines  of  work  are  meant  occupations  to  which 
his  interests,  his  talents  and  his  preparation  might  attract  him. 
The  following  positions  at  least  lie  within  the  possibilities  of 
the  desirable  graduate  of  an  agricultural  college,  and  therefore 
constitute  competing  lines  of  work:  agricultural  management 
work  (for  others  or  for  himself)  ;  agricultural  editorial  work; 
agricultural  commercial  work;  agricultural  government  work; 
agricultural  research  work ;  agricultural  extension  work ;  agri- 
cultural teaching  in  colleges;  agricultural  teaching  in  high 
schools ;  agricultural  teaching  in  agricultural  schools ;  agricul- 
tural teaching  in  departments  in  regular  high  schools ;  assistant- 
ships  where  valuable  experience  under  highly  specialized  super- 
vision is  to  be  had. 

In  a  very  exhaustive  study  of  the  preparation  and  salaries  of 
teachers  giving  instruction  in  agriculture  in  high  schools,  Mr. 


65 

C.  H.  Kobison  finds  that  the  prevailing  rate  of  pay  received 
by  desirable  students  in  agricultural  colleges  immediately  after 
graduation  is  $1,200.* 

Such  a  supervisor  must  at  the  present  time  command  a  salary 
at  least  as  high  as,  if  not  higher  than,  the  average  male  teacher 
in  ordinary  high  school  work.  Graduates  of  classical  colleges 
are  much  more  abundant  and  available  for  teaching  in  second- 
ary schools  than  are  men  qualified  to  teach  agriculture. 

The  demands  upon  the  teacher  who  is  to  serve  as  a  supervisor 
of  part-time  agricultural  work  are  so  much  more  exacting  than 
the  demands  upon  the  instructor  in  old-line  training,  that  men 
possessing  the  requisite  qualifications  of  personality  and  execu- 
tive ability  are  at  a  premium.2 

The  salaries  now  paid  to  special  teachers  of  agriculture  of 
secondary  grade  are  likewise  significant.  Mr.  Eobison  presents 
a  table  (No.  41)  giving  the  salaries  of  33  agriculturists  en- 
gaging in  school  work  in  the  past  two  years.  Of  these,  the  first 
10  employed  as  assistants  received  less  than  $850;  23  received 
$900  or  more;  21  more  than  $1,000;  and  16  more  than  $1,200. 

The  salaries  now  commanded  by  teachers  giving  special  in- 
struction in  agriculture  in  public  high  schools  and  other  public 
secondary  schools  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  salary  of  the 
supervisor  described  herein  must  be  not  less  than  $1,000,  and 
must  probably  be  more  than  that  amount  per  annum,  if  com- 
petent men  are  to  be  secured  for  the  work. 

1  In  a  thesis  prepared  for  a  doctor's  degree  at  Columbia  University,  Mr.  Robison  gives  a 
list  of   179  men  graduating  from  agricultural  colleges  in  the  school  year  1907-08.    This  list 
shows  that  the  salaries  of  over  four-fifths  of  these  men  were  rather  evenly  scattered  between 
$750  and  $1,200.    The  24  higher-degree  men  received  an  average  of  $1,208.33,  the  prevailing 
rate  being  $1,200.    The  general  average  of  salaries  for  the  1907  group  was  $947.50,  and  for  the 
1908  group  $921.50.    The  lowest  salary  received  was  $450,  and  the  highest  $1,700. 

The  significance  of  the  above  statistics  lies  in  these  three  considerations:  (1)  that  the  salaries 
tabulated  were  commanded  practically  on  graduation  day,  and  hence  do  not  represent  the 
added  compensation  which  efficiency  born  of  experience  brings;  (2)  that  the  salaries  tabulated 
include,  possibly  to  an  extent  of  more  than  a  majority  of  the  cases,  the  earnings  after  gradua- 
tion of  men  not  capable  of  acting  as  supervisors  of  agricultural  training;  (3)  that  the  salaries 
were  not  confined  to  men  entering  educational  work. 

2  The  report  of  the  National  Educational  Association,  through  its  committee  on  salaries, 
tenures  and  pensions  of  public  school  teachers  in  the  United  States  (1905),  gives  the  average 
annual  salary  of  male  teachers  other  than  principals  in  the  secondary  schools  of  Massachusetts 
outside  of  Boston  as  $1,269;   of  male  teachers  and    principals,  $1,470;  of  male  principals, 
$2,261. 


66 


VII. 


AGRICULTURAL    DEPARTMENTS    IN    PUBLIC    HIGH 
SCHOOLS    THE   PRINCIPAL   PRESENT  NEED 
IN   MASSACHUSETTS   AGRICUL- 
TURAL   EDUCATION. 

The  foregoing  chapters  of  this  report  have  been  devoted 
largely  to  a  description  of  various  features  of  the  work  of  the 
separate  agricultural  school  and  of  the  agricultural  department 
in  the  public  high  school,  as  being  the  two  types  of  training  most 
desirable  for  a  system  of  agricultural  education  in  this  State.  It 
is  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter  to  discuss  the  probable  part 
which  each  may  be  made  to  play  in  such  a  system,  and  the  special 
need  of  the  agricultural  department. 

To-day  in  Massachusetts  there  are  three  kinds  of  agricultural 
education :  one  for  adults ;  another  for  children ;  and  a  third  for 
pupils  of  high  school  age. 

Adult  Agricultural  Education.  —  Agricultural  education  suit- 
able for  adults  was  the  first  to  receive  attention,  and  has  been 
most  elaborately  developed.  It  now  includes  public  exhibitions, 
lectures  and  demonstrations ;  books,  periodicals  and  papers ;  field 
meetings  held  on  farms,  movable  schools  and  better-farming 
trains ;  correspondence  instruction  and  college  courses.  Among 
the  most  active  agents  in  promoting  this  work  for  adults  are  the 
State  Board  of  Agriculture  and  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College. 

Elementary  Agricultural  Education.  —  The  place  of  agricul- 
ture in  the  education  of  children  is  discussed  in  chapter  XL, 
where  it  is  shown  that  promising  beginnings  have  already  been 
made  in  teaching  elementary  school  children  certain  rudiments 
of  agricultural  fact  and  practice.  The  State  normal  schools 
and  interested  superintendents  of  schools  have  been  the  most 
active  agents  in  this  work.  Valuable  assistance  has  been  given 
by  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College. 

Secondary  Agricultural  Education.  —  Agricultural  education 
suitable  for  pupils  of  high  school  age  is  found  in  three  forms: 


67 

the  private  school,  of  which  the  Mount  Hermon  School  for 
Boys,  with  its  elective  courses  in  agriculture,  is  the  most  prom- 
inent example;  the  public  high  school,  with  some  agricultural 
instruction,  of  which  there  are  said  now  to  be  twelve  examples 
in  this  State ;  and  the  State-aided  agricultural  school  of  strictly 
vocational  character,  of  which  there  are  now  two  examples,  — 
the  Smith's  Agricultural  School  at  Northampton,  and  the  Mon- 
tague Agricultural  School  at  Montague. 

The  principal  present  need,  it  is  believed,  is  legislative  provi- 
sion of  State  aid  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance,  in  exist- 
ing high  schools,  of  thorough-going  vocational  departments  for 
the  preparation  of  boys,  and  perhaps  some  girls,  for  Massachu- 
setts farming.  In  other  chapters  this  report  gives  evidence  that 
farming  in  this  State  offers  a  good  future  to  those  who  have  been 
properly  trained  for  engaging  in  it,  and  outlines  a  method  for 
making  agricultural  education  for  those  above  fourteen  years  of 
age  vocationally  effective. 

The  present  law  provides  State  aid  for  independent  agri- 
cultural schools.  This  provision  should  be  continued.  But  it 
is  believed  that  this  legislation  is  not  adequate  for  meeting  the 
immediate  requirements  of  the  State  as  a  whole. 

Only  One  Rural  School  has  become  an  Agricultural  School.  — 
Under  the  present  law,  only  one  rural  school  has  been  reor- 
ganized, and  converted  into  an  agricultural  school,  —  the  school 
at  Montague. 

But  One  School  built,  and  that  by  Bequest.  —  Moreover,  but 
one  new  agricultural  school  has  been  established,  —  the  school 
at  Northampton.  Without  the  Oliver  Smith  bequest,  it  is 
perfectly  evident,  to  those  who  know  the  situation,  that  the 
city  of  Northampton  would  not  now  have  that  institution. 

The  school  has  drawn  its  students  from  sixteen  towns  outside 
of  Northampton,  as  well  as  from  the  city  itself.  It  is  in 
reality  a  school  for  a  considerable  district,  rather  than  for  a 
single  city. 

In  the  natural  course  of  events,  Northampton,  or  any  other 
city  with  a  considerable  industrial  development,  would  see  it- 
self well  equipped  for  industrial  training  before  it  would,  or 
perhaps  could,  give  a  thought  toward  the  establishment  of  an 


68 

agricultural  school  for  the  benefit  of  its  outlying  and  more  or 
less  scattered  farming  population. 

Six  Agricultural  Schools  might  be  warranted.  —  There  would 
undoubtedly  be  ample  need  of  the  ultimate  establishment  in  this 
State  of  five  or  six  independent  agricultural  schools. 

Districts  or  Benefactors  might  build  them.  —  If  the  burden 
of  establishing  such  separate  agricultural  schools  is  too  great  to 
be  assumed  single-handed  by  most  towns,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
private  philanthropy,  seeing  the  need,  may  be  induced  to  supple- 
ment limited  public  resources. 

A  group  of  towns  may  join  in  a  district  and  find  the  under- 
taking quite  within  its  grasp.  In  Essex  County  there  is  what 
appears  to  be  a  well-developed  movement  for  the  immediate 
establishment  of  such  a  school.  By  degrees  the  requisite  number 
of  separate  schools  for  meeting  the  needs  of  the  training  such 
schools  could  so  admirably  give,  may  be  secured. 

The  State  should  help  maintain;  it  should  not  help  construct 
or  equip.  —  It  is  plainly  the  established  policy  of  the  State  to 
aid  in  maintaining  industrial  and  agricultural  schools,  but  not 
in  their  construction  or  equipment.  The  State  must  not  under- 
take more  than  it  can  carry  out ;  and  it  is  already  evident  that 
at  no  distant  date  the  share  of  the  State  in  meeting  the  cost  of 
even  one-half  of  the  maintenance  charges  of  vocational  education 
will  heavily  tax  its  current  resources. 

Present  Need  of  Agricultural  Departments,  therefore,  the 
More  Urgent.  —  Since  the  demand  for  vocational  agricultural 
training  of  secondary  grade  is  pressing,  and  the  establishment  of 
agricultural  schools  is  likely  to  be  long  delayed,  the  need  for 
agricultural  departments  is  seen  to  be  the  more  urgent. 

Fifty  Departments  for  the  Cost  of  Ten  Schools.  —  The  cost  of 
establishing  a  vocational  agricultural  department  in  a  regular 
high  school  would  be  comparatively  slight,  —  not  a  tithe  of  the 
cost  of  constructing  and  equipping  an  independent  agricultural 
school.  Moreover,  fully  fifty  departments  could  be  maintained 
for  about  what  it  would  cost  to  maintain  five  large,  well-equipped 
and  effective  agricultural  schools.  The  provision  of  agricultural 
departments  strongly  commends  itself,  therefore,  on  the  grounds 
of  economy. 


69 

Departments  would  reach  the  Greatest  Number.  —  An  agri- 
cultural department  close  at  hand,  which  permitted  the  boy  to 
live  at  home  and  help  with  the  farm  work  morning 'and  night 
and  on  Saturdays,  would  be  most  likely  to  appeal  to  parents  who 
were  in  modest  circumstances.  Practically  all  parents,  however 
well-to-do  or  however  needy  they  may  be,  are  rightly  reluctant 
to  have  their  children  leave  home  at  fourteen,  or  even  at  sixteen 
or  seventeen  years  of  age. 

Many  agricultural  departments  widely  distributed  through 
the  State  would  induce  the  attendance  of  the  largest  number  of 
pupils,  and  thus  provide  a  system  of  agricultural  education 
suited  to  the  needs  of  the  greatest  number  of  farm  homes. 

Departments  would  demonstrate.  —  Surrounded  by  farms, 
vocational  agricultural  departments  in  high  schools  would  at 
once  enlist  the  motor  instincts  and  activities  of  the  boys  from 
these  farms  in  the  carrying  out,  simultaneously  with  their  school 
instruction  and  as  a  vital  part  of  it,  of  practical  farming  proj- 
ects on  their  own  premises. 

The  best  methods  would  be  told  and  shown.  And  most  boys, 
as  well  as  most  men,  in  agriculture  as  in  all  other  productive 
pursuits,  make  their  best  progress  by  being  told  and  shown,  man 
to  man,  what  to  do,  and  why  and  when  and  how  to  do  it. 

General  Schooling  not  Enough.  —  Even  in  Massachusetts, 
where  the  school-going  habit  has  been  developed  among  the 
people  at  large  to  at  least  as  favorable  proportions  as  in  most 
parts  of  the  world,  school  instruction  has  had  almost  no  direct 
bearing  on  the  probable  life  work  of  a  great  number  of  boys 
and  girls ;  and  to-day,  except  in  very  few  instances,  it  yields  no 
practical  knowledge  or  skill  to  those  boys  whose  severest  need 
is  education  for  efficiency  in  the  work  and  affairs  of  modern 
farming. 

Books  and  Bulletins  are  not  Enough.  —  How  many  of  the 
rank  and  file  of  busy  farmers  have  had  the  time,  the  opportunity 
or  the  inclination  for  learning  the  alphabet  of  agricultural 
science,  —  that  difficult  alphabet,  in  which  the  most  valuable 
bulletins  and  treatises  on  modern  agriculture  are  written  ?  The 
higher  the  aspirations  of  the  men  of  agricultural  knowledge,  and 
the  more  commendable  their  accomplishments  in  the  conquest  of 


70 

agricultural  science,  the  more  difficult  of  comprehension  do  their 
published  works  become  in  the  hands  of  the  man  hard  pressed 
by  the  daily  affairs  of  farming. 

The  need  of  the  hour  is  the  need  of  the  teacher  who  can  sim- 
plify language,  and  tell  the  boys  who  are  to  be  farmers  in  a 
given  town  or  district  the  practical  bearing  of  the  best  research 
in  agriculture  on  their  problems;  and  who  can  show  the  boys, 
on  their  own  farms  and  in  the  laboratory  demonstrations  at  the 
school,  the  best  methods  which  are  applicable  to  Massachusetts 
conditions.  It  is  to  meet  this  need  that  a  system  of  agricultural 
departments  is  proposed  in  this  report. 

The  Farm  is  not  Enough.  —  It  has  been  said  that  "  The  worst 
thing  about  farming  in  New  England  is  that  almost  any  kind  of 
farmer  can  get  a  living  on  almost  any  kind  of  farm."  Produc- 
tive farming  —  the  farming  for  which  additional  vocational 
training  is  here  proposed  —  is  not  eking  out  from  the  land  the 
nakedest  necessities  of  life.  Productive  farming  is  farming  for 
the  community,  not  merely  for  the  individual;  it  is  economic 
farming,  and  as  such  contemplates  profit  in  proportion  to  the 
service  it  renders  the  community,  —  in  proportion  to  the  quan- 
tity and  the  quality  of  the  commodities  put  upon  the  market. 
Such  farming  demands  the  highest  operative  skill,  the  keenest 
scientific  insight  and  the  broadest  outlook  over  the  wants  and  the 
welfare  of  the  community.  Many  men  on  Massachusetts  farms 
to-day  are  doing  exactly  this  kind  of  productive  farming.  They 
have  built  up  their  ability  through  long  years  of  experience. 
They  would  be  the  best  possible  schoolmasters  for  their  sons  in 
this  skillful  work,  this  scientific  insight  and  this  breadth  of 
outlook. 

But,  just  as  the  lawyer  who  must  practice  law  is  generally 
unwilling  to  teach  it,  so  the  productive  farmer,  who  must  meet 
the  pressing  demands  of  economic  agricultural  operations,  and 
who  in  most  cases  must  be  at  once  the  skilled  operative,  the 
scientific  observer  and  the  capable  business  manager,  cannot 
stop  to  teach  his  boy  the  many  things  he  ought  to  be  taught  in 
the  years  following  his  fourteenth  birthday. 

If  this  is  true  of  the  farmer  of  exceptional  ability,  it  is  even 
more  evident  among  farmers  in  general  throughout  the  Com- 


71 

monwealth.  There  is  no  reflection  in  this  observation  on  the 
"  old  stock  "  or  on  the  immigrant.  The  statement  is  put  for- 
ward as  a  matter  of  fact,  and  shows  a  condition  which  has 
grown,  and  must  continue  more  and  more  to  grow,  out  of  the 
exigencies  of  modern  economic  agriculture. 

If  the  office  alone  is  not  enough  as  a  training  school  for 
modern  commerce,  it  becomes  increasingly  evident  that,  while 
the  farm  must  have  a  necessary  part  in  agricultural  education, 
as  is  shown  in  chapters  IV.  and  V.  of  this  report,  it  is  not  enough 
for  the  training  of  the  prospective  productive  farmer.  The 
agricultural  departments  would  undertake  to  render  a  service 
to  productive  farming  like  that  rendered  the  world  of  business 
by  the  public  school  department  of  commerce. 

Open  Doors  of  Opportunity.  —  Mr.  D.  J.  Crosby,  specialist 
in  agricultural  education  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  has  written  that  he  hopes  to  see  secondary 
agricultural  education  throughout  the  country  "  Open  at  both 
ends,"  —  open  at  the  beginning,  so  that  the  farm  boy  can  enter ; 
and  open  at  the  end,  so  that  those  farm  boys  who  desire  to  go 
on  to  higher  agricultural  training  shall  be  able  to  do  so. 

The  agricultural  departments,  as  shown  in  another  chapter 
of  this  report,  would  admit  any  farm  boy  who  had  reached  his 
fourteenth  birthday,  without  regard  to  whether  or  not  he  could 
pass  entrance  examinations  for  admission  to  high  school,  pro- 
vided he  could  demonstrate  his  ability  to  profit  from  the  agri- 
cultural instruction  offered.  This  would  open  the  door  for  the 
boy  who  might  not  be  "  bookish,"  but  who  might  be  capable  of 
making  excellent  progress  in  applied  science  as  worked  out  by 
the  project,  or  part-time,  method'  proposed  in  chapter  V.  of 
this  report. 

Fuller  opportunity,  at  the  same  time,  would  be  afforded 
the  boy  who  might  be  both  "  bookish "  and  "  practical,"  for 
advancing  in  both  agricultural  and  academic  training.  As 
stated  in  chapter  V.,  20  per  cent,  of  the  boy's  time  would  be 
definitely  reserved  for  broadly  cultural  education.  If  a  boy 
who  was  training  for  farming  valued  graduation  from  an  even 
more  strongly  cultural  course,  one  that  perhaps  even  included 
Latin  or  Greek,  and  if  he  were  able  to  cover  the  ground  re- 


72 

quired  for  such  graduation  without  detriment  to  the  vocational 
training  in  his  agricultural  course,  he,  too,  should  find  wide  open 
before  him  a  door  of  opportunity  commensurate  with  his  ambi- 
tion and  his  natural  powers. 

More  and  more,  agricultural  science  is  bound  to  be  recognized 
in  units  of  credit  for  meeting  college  entrance  requirements ; 
certainly  for  meeting  the  requirements  for  admission  to  col- 
leges of  agriculture. 

It  must  be  evident,  in  short,  that  the  agricultural  departments 
in  high  schools  herein  proposed  would  throw  open  to  boys  from 
the  farms  not  limited  opportunities  only,  but  opportunities  for 
the  most  advanced  agricultural  education  of  which  they  might 
be  capable  and  to  which  they  might  aspire.  The  fact  that  firm 
footing  for  their  feet  would  be  found  at  the  outset  through  the 
immediate  application  of  their  science  instruction  in  their  home 
farm  projects,  would  certainly  be  no  detriment. 

Avoidance  of  Undue  Delay.  —  The  establishment  of  agri- 
cultural departments  in  existing  high  schools  could  not  be  ac- 
complished over  night.  Their  success  would  depend  upon 
picked  men  for  teachers ;  and  the  selection  of  such  men,  or  their 
training,  would  require  time  and  attention.  Some  time  would 
be  required,  also,  for  enabling  the  local  advisory  committee  in 
consultation  with  the  State  authorities  to  outline  the  course 
of  training  best  suited  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  farm  boys  in 
any  given  locality.  Certain  special  agricultural  class-room 
facilities  and  equipment  would  require  some  time  for  prepara- 
tion. 

But  the  time  necessary  for  the  establishment  of  such  depart- 
ments would  be  comparatively  brief.  In  one,  two  or  three 
years  it  should  be  possible  to  have  a  reasonable  number  of  such 
departments  actively  at  work,  and  reaching  most  of  the  farm 
boys  in  this  State  who  need  this  form  of  agricultural  education. 
Conclusion.  —  Chief  stress  in  this  chapter  has  been  laid  on 
the  need  of  agricultural  departments  in  existing  high  schools, 
and  the  service  they  might  be  expected  to  render.  It  is  recog- 
nized that  a  new  and  untried  method  of  instruction  is  proposed 
in  this  report.  There  have  been  certain  approximations  to  both 
the  separate  agricultural  school  and  the  agricultural  department 


73 

in  a  high  school,  as  here  defined  and  discussed;  but  nowhere 
has  there  been  the  definite  and  studied  employment  of  the  proj- 
ect and  part-time  method  of  training  here  contemplated  for  use 
in  both  the  agricultural  school  and  the  agricultural  department. 

While,  therefore,  it  is  believed  that  the  system  of  agricultural 
schools  recommended  in  this  report  will  prove  to  be  an  impor- 
tant contribution  to  the  progress  of  education  in  this  Common- 
wealth, it  is  believed,  also,  that  the  experimental  character  of 
the  proposed  system,  particularly  in  matters  relating  to  the  agri- 
cultural department,  should  be  distinctly  recognized.  To  this 
end,  accordingly,  the  appropriation  for  aiding  such  departments 
has  been  restricted  to  $10,000  a  year,  —  a  sum  sufficient  to  start 
a  small  number  of  such  departments. 

Intense  interest  in  the  proposed  system  exists  among  farmers, 
business  men  and  educators  throughout  the  State  with  whom  it 
has  been  discussed.  Under  the  supervision  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, the  work  could  be  subjected  to  the  closest  scrutiny,  and 
would  be  undertaken  with  corresponding  care.  Departments 
need  not  be  established  excepting  where  conditions  for  their  suc- 
cessful development  were  believed  to  exist.  Every  possible  as- 
sistance could  be  given  those  immediately  responsible  for  putting 
into  effect  the  method  here  proposed.  If  the  results  proved  to 
be  disappointing,  the  appropriation  for  departments  should  be 
discontinued.  If  the  results  here  anticipated  should  be  realized, 
the  annual  appropriation  could  be  increased  and  the  system 
further  extended  whenever  such  action  might  be  considered 
necessary  or  desirable. 


74 


VIII. 

POSSIBLE  LOCATIONS  FOR  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOLS  OR 
DEPARTMENTS. 

Where  should  the  schools  and  departments  in  a  system  of  agri- 
cultural education  for  Massachusetts  be  established? 

Previously  in  this  report  it  has  been  stated  that  the  establish- 
ment of  five,  or  possibly  six,  separate  agricultural  schools  might 
be  warranted  in  Massachusetts.  These  might  well  be  located  at 
the  most  easily  accessible  points  in  each  of  six,  readily  sep- 
arable, divisions  of  the  State  which  furnish  the  home  markets 
for  Massachusetts  agricultural  products. 

That  there  are  six  such  divisions  has  been  shown  by  Secre- 
tary Ellsworth  in  his  forthcoming  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Massa- 
chusetts, her  Agricultural  Resources,  Advantages  and  Oppor- 
tunities," to  which  reference  has  been  made  in  chapter  II.  His 
preliminary  statement  concerning  these  divisions  is  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

The  home  markets  for  Massachusetts  farm  products  are  confined  prin- 
cipally to  the  33  cities.  These  cities,  all  containing  more  than  13,000 
people,  represent  almost  two-thirds  of  the  total  population  of  the  State. 
The  inhabitants  thereof  are  wholly  dependent  upon  the  farmer  for  sus- 
tenance. The  cities  of  the  State  lie  in  six  groups,  the  locations  of 
which,  as  previously  intimated,  were  determined  largely  by  the  existence 
of  special  industrial  and  commercial  facilities. 

1.  Desirable  Locations  for  Agricultural  Schools.  —  If  the  six 
agricultural  market  divisions  of  the  State  were  to  be  followed, 
schools  might  be  located  in  the  divisions  described  by  Secretary 
Ellsworth,  as  below  shown,  and  for  reasons  based  on  the  investi- 
gations leading  to  this  report  below  given. 

(1)  "  The  most  western  group/'  says  Secretary  Ellsworth,  "  is 
that  comprising  the  cities  of  Pittsfield  and  North  Adams,  hav- 
ing a  combined  population  of  45,000.  These  markets  get  all 
their  dairy  products  and  fruits  and  vegetables  in  season  from 
producers  of  northern  Berkshire." 

Pittsfield  promises  to  be  an  excellent  center,  and  the  time 
seems  opportune  for  the  establishment  there  of  a  separate 


75 

agricultural  school.  The  formation  of  an  agricultural  fair  asso- 
ciation is  under  consideration  by  the  Pittsfield  Board  of  Trade, 
the  local  Grange  and  influential  citizens.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  the  two  projects  might  be  worked  out  together.  Some  of 
the  fair  buildings,  which  otherwise  would  be  unoccupied  fully 
eleven  months  of  the  year,  might  be  used  for  the  school.  Some 
of  the  school  equipment  and  operations  might  contribute  features 
of  very  great  value  for  carrying  out  the  educational  purposes 
which  the  annual  fairs  would  be  intended  to  serve. 

Pittsfield  is  a  trade  and  transportation  center  for  the  towns 
of  Lanesborough,  Dalton,  Lenox,  Lee,  Cheshire,  Berkshire  and 
Hinsdale.  This  group  of  towns,  with  Pittsfield,  has  a  total 
population  estimated  at  50,000.  The  population  is  said  to  be 
increasing  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  to  be  far  outstripping  the  agri- 
cultural development  of  that  section  of  the  State. 

(2)  "The  second  group/'  as  described  by  Secretary  Ellsworth, 
"  comprises  Northampton,  Holyoke,  Chicopee  and  Springfield. 
These  cities  lie  in  the  lower  Connecticut  Eiver  valley.    The  last 
three  named  are  in  Hampden  County,  and  are  the  most  popu- 
lous.    The  total  population  is  145,500.     This  market  group 
draws  heavily  upon  the  productivity  of  the  Connecticut  valley 
for  30  miles  of  its  length  and  from  the  hills  on  the  east  and  on 
the  west.     The  prosperous  market  gardeners  close  to  the  city 
limits   attest   to   the   excellent   marketing   advantages   of   this 
region." 

The  Connecticut  Valley  now  supplied.  --  The  Smith's  Agri- 
cultural School  and  Northampton  School  of  Industries  now  in 
operation  at  Northampton,  and  previously  referred  to  in  this  re- 
port, is  equipped  for  serving  a  large  area  in  the  Connecticut 
valley  and  on  the  neighboring  hills.  Students  from  16  towns 
have  been  enrolled  for  work  in  this  school,  and  with  but  few 
exceptions  have  been  able  to  reside  at  home,  —  due  to  the  excel- 
lence of  Northampton  as  a  transportation  center. 

(3)  "A  third  group  "  is  that  made  up,  according  to  the  analy- 
sis of  Secretary  Ellsworth,  "  of  Worcester,  Fitchburg  and  Marl- 
borough.     The  former  is  by  several  thousands  the  largest  city, 
and  no  mean  percentage  of  its  people  are  partially  self-sustain- 
ing.   The  combined  population  is  163,500.    The  supply  for  these 
markets  comes  mostly  from  the  southern  and  eastern  parts  of 


76 

Worcester  County.  Railroads  enter  the  cities  of  this  group 
from  twelve  different  directions  direct  from  the  producing  sec- 
tions." 

Worcester  has  been  discussed  separately  in  chapter  IX.  of 
this  report  as  a  most  desirable  center  for  an  agricultural  school. 
The  resources  of  the  city  are  rich,  the  agricultural  production 
of  its  outlying  sections  is  large,  the  population  conditions  are 
adequate,  its  transportation  facilities  are  excellent,  and  the 
enterprise  of  its  local  agricultural  and  horticultural  organiza- 
tions is  noteworthy.  Few  communities  could  offer  conditions 
more  promising  for  the  successful  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  such  a  school  than  those  which  would  be  found  in 
Worcester. 

(4)  " Another  group  of  cities/'  indicated  by  Secretary  Ells- 
worth, "  lie  along  the  Merrimac  River  in  no  them  Essex  County. 
Lowell,  Lawrence,  Haverhill  and  Newburyport  make  up  this 
group,  and  afford  markets  for  that  section  of  the  State.  The 
railroads  are  numerous,  but  do  not  enter  into  the  movement  of 
produce  to  these  markets  to  any  extent,  most  of  it  being  drawn 
over  the  excellent  macadam  roads  with  which  this  section  is 
admirably  supplied.  Gloucester,  on  Cape  Ann,  is  a  city  of 
more  than  25,000  people,  which  requires  its  portion  of  soil 
products.  It  is  known  best  as  a  port  and  market  for  the  fishing 
industry." 

In  Essex  County  several  locations  have  been  suggested,  and 
it  appears  that  public  sentiment  has  been  thoroughly1  aroused, 
by  the  Associated  Boards  of  Trade  and  other  organizations 
throughout  the  entire  county,  in  favor  of  the  early  establish- 
ment of  one  agricultural  school,  and  ultimately  of  at  least  two 
such  schools. 

A.  Danvers  has  been  suggested  as  a  center  for  such  a  school. 
The  section  about  Danvers  may  be  described  as  pre-eminently 
devoted  to  market  gardening.  The  district  served  might  well 
include  Lynn,  Marblehead,  Salem,  Peabody*  Beverly  and  Dan- 
vers itself.  It  is  urged  that  day  students  living  at  home  could 
attend  school  at  this  center  from  points  as  far  north  as  Tops- 
field,  Boxford,  North  Andover  and  even  Haverhill,  more  cheaply 
than  they  could  board,  and  have  margins  of  time  for  testing 
daily  at  home  the  teachings  of  the  school. 


77 

B.  The  Merrimac  valley,  it  has  been  urged,  would  furnish  a 
desirable  center.     Agriculture  in  the  Merrimac  valley  section 
is  rich  and  varied.     It  embraces  general  farming;  fruit  grow- 
ing, including  peaches  and  strawberries ;  and  market  gardening. 
The  district  served  might  well  include  Andover,  North  Andover. 
Boxford,    Georgetown,    Groveland,    Lawrence,    Methuen    and 
Haverhill.     Towns  even  as  distant  as  Danvers,  Topsfield,  New- 
buryport  and  Salisbury  would  not,  it  is  believed,  be  too  far 
away  for  the  attendance  of  day  students. 

C.  Topsfield  also  has  been  suggested  as  a  center,  owing  to 
the  gift  of  a  valuable  farm  in  that  town  to  the  Essex  Agricul- 
tural Society  for  educational  purposes.     This  farm  would  offer 
admirable  field  facilities  for  purposes  of  instruction.     The  soil, 
especially  in  its  diversified  topographical  contours,  is  typical 
of  the  farming  land  in  the  immediately  surrounding  section. 

Against  this  point  as  a  center  for  an  agricultural  school  has 
been  urged  difficulty  of  access.  Topsfield  has  no  electric  car 
service,  and  is  crossed  by  but  a  single  steam  railway  line.  It 
might  be  that  an  enrollment  of  day  students  could  not  be  as- 
sured sufficient  to  warrant  its  selection  as  a  center. 

D.  Beverly,  or  some  other  spot  on  the  North  Shore,  has  been 
suggested  as  a  center.     It  has  been  urged  that  an  agricultural 
school  might  be  established  and  equipped  by  subscriptions  from 
wealthy  residents,  and  that  a  district  for  its  maintenance  might 
well  be  made  up  of  Beverly,  Wenham,  Hamilton,  Essex,  Man- 
chester, Gloucester,  Rockport  and  perhaps  Ipswich.      Such  a 
school,  it  is  urged,  should  provide  instruction  in  general  farm- 
ing,  and   should   also  give   particular   attention  to  landscape 
gardening. 

It  is  said  that  the  North  Shore  country  seats  demand  much 
skilled  agricultural  and  horticultural  work  of  all  kinds,  and  that 
for  meeting  this  demand  the  establishment  and  maintenance  by 
the  means  above  named  of  a  somewhat  specialized  agricultural 
school  would  be  warranted.  There  appears  to  be  no  little  merit 
in  this  proposal,  and  the  transportation  conveniences  would  make 
a  school  in  this  locality  accessible  to  a  large  district. 

(5)  "  The  cities  of  the  fifth  group''  as  described  by  Secretary 
Ellsworth,  "  are  rather  widely  separated,  but,  as  they  are  respon- 
sible for  considerable  agricultural  activity  of  a  particular  sec- 


78 

tion,  they  may  be  taken  as  constituting  a  market  for  that  section. 
These  cities  are  Brockton  in  northwestern  Plymouth,  Taunton, 
Fall  River  and  New  Bedford  in  Bristol,  and  Woonsocket,  Paw- 
tucket,  Central  Falls  and  Providence  in  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island.  The  combined  population  of  these  cities  in  1905  was 
500,000,  which  was  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  Boston. 

"  This,  however,  cannot  be  taken  as  a  true  measure  of  the 
market  for  Massachusetts  farmers  of  this  section,  since  the 
Rhode  Island  markets  get  the  larger  portion  of  their  produce 
from  Rhode  Island  soil.  The  Massachusetts  cities  named  above 
have  a  population  nearly  equal  to  the  Rhode  Island  cities,  and, 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Fall  River,  get  all  their  native 
food  stuffs  from  Massachusetts  farms.  Transportation  facilities 
are  excellent,  no  less  than  thirty  lines  of  railroads  entering  the 
cities  of  the  group.  Probably  most  of  the  garden  truck  is  taken 
to  market  over  the  highways." 

The  Faunce  Demonstration  Farm  at  Sandwich  might  serve 
as  a  nucleus  for  a  separate  agricultural  school  for  the  Cape  Cod 
section.  The  real  estate  of  the  Faunce  Demonstration  Farm, 
when  bequeathed  in  1909  for  its  present  use,  consisted  of  two 
houses,  a  barn,  a  greenhouse,  about  8  acres  of  cleared  land,  with 
50  acres  of  woodland  adjoining  and  other  woodland  at  a  dis- 
tance. With  this  real  estate  there  also  -was  received  a  fund  of 
about  $20,000.  The  whole  property  was  left  as  a  memorial  to 
Dr.  Robert  H.  Faunce,  who  had  died  suddenly  the  year  before, 
by  his  mother,  in  the  hands  of  four  of  her  personal  friends  as 
trustees,  with  Avide  discretionary  powers,  but  with  her  wish  well 
understood  that  the  estate  was  to  be  used  to  encourage  Cape  Cod 
agriculture.  Demonstration  work  in  fruit  and  vegetable  grow- 
ing and  in  poultry  farming  has  been  energetically  undertaken. 
This  establishment  was  described  very  fully  by  the  "  Boston 
Herald  "  of  Nov.  27,  1910,  in  an  illustrated  article,  entitled 
"  The  Farm  without  Frills." 

The  conditions  at  Sandwich  are  so  closely  typical  of  the  Cape 
as  a  whole,  and  transportation  facilities  are  such,  that  Sandwich 
naturally  suggests  itself  as  a  desirable  center  for  an  agricultural 
school.  Agricultural  production  in  that  section  has  been  sorely 
neglected,  products  which  might  well  be  grown  at  home  being 
brought  in  for  supplying  local  needs  from  the  Boston  markets. 


79 

The  importance  of  Sandwich  as  a  center  is  expected  to  be  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  completion  of  the  new  Cape  Cod  Canal. 

The  people  of  the  community,  particularly  the  school  boys, 
have  responded  to  the  influence  of  the  Faunce  Demonstration 
Farm.  The  superintendent  of  the  farm,  as  this  report  is  being 
written,  is  instructing  special  classes  of  high  school  students 
who  are  desirous  of  the  training  this  farm  and  its  manager  are 
prepared  to  provide. 

(6)  "  The  sixth  group/'  discussion  of  which  Secretary  Ells- 
worth deferred  until  the  last,  because  of  its  magnitude,  is  that 
which,  he  says,  "  for  present  purposes  may  be  called  the  Boston 
market.  Fifteen  cities  and  about  as  many  large  towns  may  be 
included  in  this  group.  It  has  its  center  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and 
radiates  for  10  miles  north,  south  and  west.  Within  the  circum- 
ference of  this  territory  there  dwell  more  than  one-third  of  all 
the  people  in  the  Commonwealth.  Well  may  Boston  be  termed 
'  the  Hub ; '  it  is  truly  the  center  of  this  enormous  market." 

The  Suburbs  of  Boston.  —  It  is  well  known  that  the  green- 
house and  market-garden  interests  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  have 
reached  enormous  development,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that 
a  special  school  for  training  producers  of  market-garden  and 
greenhouse  crops  might  well  be  established  in  one  of  the  suburbs 
of  this  city. 

Such  a  school  might  materially  differ  in  its  course  of  study 
from  the  other  agricultural  schools,  and  form  a  very  important 
part  of  a  system  of  agricultural  education  for  the  State.  Stu- 
dents who  desired  to  specialize  in  these  branches  of  agricultural 
production  might,  at  the  end  of  the  first  two  or  three  years  in 
any  of  the  other  agricultural  schools  or  agricultural  departments, 
possible  locations  for  which  are  hereafter  discussed,  be  trans- 
ferred to  this  school  for  a  one-year  or  two-years  finishing  course ; 
that  is  to  say,  such  a  school  might  well  be  organized  for  provid- 
ing a  short  course  of  highly  specialized  instruction  for  boys  of 
sixteen  or  more  years  of  age. 

2.  Possible  Locations  for  Agricultural  Departments  in  Exist- 
ing High  Schools.  —  Local  conditions  should  be  strong  factors 
in  determining  whether  or  not  the  establishment  of  an  agricul- 
tural department  would  be  advisable  at  any  given  point. 

There  is  throughout  the  State  a  very  general  excellence  of 


80 

transportation  facilities.  When,  for  example,  possible  locations 
for  the  proposed  Massachusetts  College  centers  were  being  se- 
lected, it  was  found  that  30  such  centers  could  be  so  placed  that 
92  per  cent,  of  the  school  population  of  the  State  would  live 
within  the  range  of  a  five-cent  fare  by  steam  or  trolley  from 
these  centers,  and  that  six  per  cent,  more  would  live  within  the 
range  of  a  ten-cent  fare.  Transportation  facilities  are  likely  to 
be  found  favorable  at  most  points  which  might  be  suggested. 

In  choosing  locations  for  agricultural  departments  in  high 
schools,  some  account  should  undoubtedly  be  taken  of  the  tend- 
ency of  agriculture  to  develop  more  strongly  with  reference  to 
local  market  demands  than  with  reference  to  any  local  peculiar- 
ities of  soil  or  traditional  production,  —  a  tendency  which  has 
been  referred  to  by  Secretary  Ellsworth.  Strong  or  distinctive 
home-market  centers  for  agricultural  products  might  well,  as  in 
the  cases  of  the  agricultural  schools,  furnish  the  most  desirable 
locations  for  agricultural  departments. 

Following  are  centers  —  but  not  always  market  centers  — 
which  have  been  suggested  as  likely  to  be  found  desirable  for 
the  location  of  vocational  agricultural  departments  in  existing 
high  schools :  — 

(1)  Great  Barrington  might  be  found  desirable  as  a  center, 
so  far  as  the  farming  interests  and  transportation  facilities  are 
concerned.  Farmers  conversant  with  Great  Barrington  condi- 
tions have  estimated  that  an  annual  enrollment  of  20  farm  boys 
could  be  assured,  if  such  a  department  should  be  established, 
with  an  ultimate  enrollment  of  probably  not  fewer  than  50. 
The  surrounding  towns  have  no  manufacturing,  but  contain 
many  estates  of  summer  residents  and  many  typical  western 
Massachusetts  farms.  These  towns  now  send  a  number  of  tui- 
tion students  to  the  Great  Barrington  high  school. 

An  agricultural  department  at  this  center  might  be  found  very 
serviceable,  therefore,  to  a  considerable  surrounding  territory, 
as  well  as  to  Great  Barrington  itself.  Instances  are  given  of 
students,  living  at  home,  but  attending  school  in  Pittsfield 
from  points  as  far  south  as  Stockbridge.  The  distance  from 
Stockbridge  to  Pittsfield  is  of  course  much  greater  than  the 
distance  from  Stockbridge  to  Great  Barrington.  It  has  been 


81 

urged  that,  with  an  agricultural  school  at  Pittsfield  and  an 
agricultural  department  at  Great  Barrington,  the  Berkshire 
section  of  the  State  would  be  well  supplied  with  means  for  the 
agricultural  education  of  boys  fourteen  or  more  years  of  age. 

(2)  West  Springfield  has  been  suggested  as  a  favorable  spot 
for  a  strong  agricultural  department  course  in  market  gardening 
as  well  as  in  general  agriculture.     There  would  be  abundance 
of  illustrative  work  going  on  within  easy  reach,  and  the  trans- 
portation facilities  for  day  students  would  be  all  that  could  be 
desired. 

(3)  Palmer  might  be  another  desirable  center.     This  is  a 
town  of  about  8,000  inhabitants,  and  is  made  up  of  several  vil- 
lages.    It  is  an  important  transportation  center,  being  inter- 
sected by  several  steam  railway  lines  and  served  by  numerous 
electric  car  lines  radiating  from  Palmer  village  as  a  center. 
A  large  farming  area  might  thus  be  readily  accommodated. 

Across  the  river  from  the  village  is  a  very  large  State  institu- 
tion, with  extensive  farms  and  varied  farming  operations. 
Much  help  is  there  employed,  and  practical  work  might  there 
be  had  by  boys  from  village  homes  who  desired  to  be  trained 
for  farm  life  and  work.  The  superintendent  of  this  institution 
has  expressed  great  interest  in  the  possible  establishment  of  an 
agricultural  department  in  the  Palmer  high  school,  and  might 
be  relied  upon  to  do  everything  possible  for  enhancing  the  value 
of  its  practical  instruction. 

Palmer  has  three  outlying  manufacturing  villages,  in  each  of 
which  the  mill  property  includes  farming  land.  The  agents  of 
the  mills  have  expressed  considerable  interest  in  the  possibility 
of  an  agricultural  department  in  the  Palmer  high  school.  One 
of  them  would  contribute  forestry  demonstration  work;  the 
others  would  render  any  assistance  which  might  be  found  prac- 
ticable. 

(4)  Sandwich,  if  the  Faunce  Demonstration  Farm  were  not 
developed  into   a   separate   agricultural   school,   would  be   ad- 
mirably suited  for  an  agricultural  department.    The  farm  would 
provide  excellent  means  for  demonstration  and  practice  work  at 
the  school,  since  the  farm  is  but  a  few  steps  from  the  high  school 
building. 


82 

(5)  Kingston  would  be  another  favorable  point.     Though 
Kingston  itself  might  not  assure  an  enrollment  sufficient  to  war- 
rant the  establishment  of  such  a  department  at  the  local  high 
school,  the  transportation  facilities  are  such  that  a  department 
located  at  Kingston  might  serve  a  considerable  territory,  includ- 
ing the  towns  of  Plymouth,  Carver,  Plympton,  Halifax,  Silver 
Lake  and  Duxbury. 

Kingston  no  doubt  has  been  suggested  owing  to  the  keen  local 
interest  in  agricultural  improvement  which  has  already  been 
aroused.  There  is  a  model  farm  operated  by  a  private  owner 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  high  school,  which  would  afford  proper 
demonstration  facilities. 

(6)  By  field  has  been  suggested  as  a  good  center  for  an  agri- 
cultural department.    Dummer  Academy  is  located  in  this  town, 
and  owns  a  farm  fairly  typical  of  the  land  in  this  section.     It 
has  been  suggested  that  the  town  authorities,  acting  with  the 
officers  of  Dummer  Academy,  might  utilize  the  academy  farm 
and  a  portion  of  the  academy  buildings  for  the  establishment  of 
such  a  department.     Byfield  has  electric  car  service  as  well  as 
steam,  and  day  students  from  ^"ewbury,  Georgetown,  Eowley 
and  Ipswich  might  there  be  accommodated. 

(7)  Walpole  is  another  location  which  has  been  suggested  for 
a   department.      Three  very  interesting  farms,   one   a   purely 
investment  proposition,  one  where  clean  milk  is  produced  under 
exceptionally  good  conditions,  and  another  where  an  undertak- 
ing is  under  way  for  developing  a  farm  which  shall  grow  all 
its  own  grain  as  well  as  roughage,  would  afford  very  unusual 
illustrative  facilities,  not  too  far  distant.     Walpole  has  both 
steam  and  electric  railway  service,   and  a  department  in  the 
Walpole  high  school  might  well  serve  a  considerable  surround- 
ing section. 

(8)  Petersham  is  another  center  which  has  been  suggested. 
A  central  school  building,  costing  $75,000,  has  been  given  to 
the  town.     In  this  are  accommodated  all  of  the  grades  of  the 
local  schools,  including  the  high  school.     In  order  that  agri- 
cultural instruction  might  be  given,  a  small  greenhouse  was 
erected  and  a  small  tract  of  land  for  out-door  work  was  pro- 
vided.    The  school  has  already  taken  for  its  name  the  "  Peters- 
ham Agricultural  High  School." 


83 

3.  Procedure  for  choosing  Locations  for  Vocational  Agri- 
cultural Schools.  —  Other  desirable  locations  for  both  agricul- 
tural schools  and  agricultural  departments  will  undoubtedly  be 
brought  to  view.  The  lists  above  given  simply  make  record  of 
those  possible  centers  which  have  most  readily  singled  them- 
selves out,  owing  to  certain  obvious,  and,  as  a  rule,  peculiarly 
advantageous,  local  conditions. 

ISTo  serious  work  could  be  expected  of  any  community  in  the 
direction  of  a  definite  canvass  of  its  specific  requirements  and 
possibilities,  in  the  absence  of  legislation  fixing  the  general 
policy  of  the  State  as  to  the  desirability  of  establishing  a  sys- 
tem of  agricultural  schools  throughout  the  Commonwealth. 
Such  legislation  might  be  expected  to  follow  the  submission  of 
this  report.  For  those  conducting  the  preliminary  investiga- 
tions leading  to  this  report  to  have  urged  such  canvasses  would 
have  been  to  enter  the  field  of  propaganda,  —  a  field  construed 
to  be  foreign  to  the  present  purpose. 

In  the  event  of  favorable  action  by  the  Legislature  on  the 
establishment  of  the  system  of  vocational  agricultural  schools 
recommended  in  this  report,  the  procedure  for  choosing  a  loca- 
tion for  a  school  or  a  department  would  probably  be  somewhat 
as  follows :  — 

(1)  A  local  committee  interested  in  the  subject  might  peti- 
tion the  Board  of  Education  for  a  conference.     Such  a  commit- 
tee might  be  the  regular  school  committee,  acting  through  the 
superintendent  of  schools ;  or  it  might  be  a  group  of  interested 
citizens,  such  as  members  of  a  grange  or  of  a  board  of  trade. 

(2)  The  conference  might  be  expected  to  result   (a)   in  a 
careful  canvass  of  the  local  farming  conditions  and  the  local 
market   demands   for   agricultural   products;    and    (&)    in   the 
tentative  formulation  of  a  course  of  training  which  appeared 
to  be  suited  to  the  farming  needs  of  the  particular  locality. 

(3)  It  might  then  be  advisable  that  a  careful  census  of  the 
local  school  population   should  be  made,   for  the  purpose  of 
estimating  the  number  of  boys  just  approaching  the  fourteenth 
birthday  or  just  past  it,  who  would  enroll  in  a  school  which 
should  provide  such  a  course  of  training  as  that  tentatively 
formulated. 

(4)  With  the  list  of  prospective  students  in  hand,  the  next 


84 

step  would  probably  be  to  secure  assurance  from  the  parents 
of  those  students  of  willingness  to  co-operate  heartily  with  the 
school  in  carrying  out  the  programme  of  part-time  work,  which 
is  believed  to  be  essential  to  the  proper  conduct  of  the  proposed 
type  of  agricultural  education. 

(5)  Assured  of  the  necessary  home  farm  co-operation,  and 
an  adequate  enrollment,  the  next  natural  steps  would  be:  (a) 
consideration  of  suitable  land,  buildings  and  equipment,  and 
their  probable  cost;  (&)  the  availability  of  suitable  teachers,  and 
their  probable  cost;  and  (c)  the  probable  cost  of  maintenance, 
other  than  the  expense  for  officers  of  instruction  and  adminis- 
tration. 

If  a  department  in  a  high  school  were  contemplated,  the  above 
problems  of  (a)  suitable  quarters  and  equipment,  ('&)  instruction 
and  (c)  miscellaneous  necessary  maintenance  cost  would  be 
much  simplified.  The  attitude  of  the  local  high  school  officers 
and  teachers  would  previously  have  been  ascertained  when  the 
proposed  course  of  training  was  formulated. 

(6)  With  all  the  needs  definitely  known,  ways  and  means  of 
providing  funds  and  election  or  appointment  of  official  local 
authorities  for  the  establishment  of  the  school,  or  department, 
would  be  the  next  natural  objects  of  attention. 

A.  Action  might  be  speedy  and  the  problems  simple,  if  the 
town  or  city  were  to  provide  the  school  for  itself. 

B.  Action  might  be  slow  and  the  problems  more  difficult,  if 
the  school  were  to  be  provided  by  a  district  of  several  cities  or 
towns,  or  cities  and  towns. 

C.  All  would  most   readily  be   accomplished,   if   a   private 
donor,  or  group  of  donors,  should  provide  the  necessary  plant. 
The  Oliver  Smith  fund  of  $310,000  was  a  great  aid  in  estab- 
lishing the   agricultural   school   at  Northampton;   as  was  the 
Faunce  bequest  in  establishing  the  Faunce  Demonstration  Farm 
at  Sandwich,  and  the  resultant  agricultural  instruction  during 
part  of  the  year  now  given  high  school  students  in  that  town. 

In  addition  to  the  suggested  North  Shore  school  which  it  is 
thought  might  be  built  and  equipped  by  private  donors,  it  is 
understood  that  another  project,  somewhat  of  the  Sandwich  type, 
is  likely  to  be  provided  for  at  an  early  date  by  private  gift. 


85 

Few  benefactions  are  likely  to  be  more  permanently  useful 
than  modest  gifts  and  bequests  of  the  Faunce  type,  which  would 
provide  desirable  school  equipment  at  many  points  for  the  more 
practical  elements  of  the  agricultural  education  of  the  boys  and 
girls  who  expect  to  live  their  lives  and  do  their  work  on  Massa- 
chusetts farms.  If  large  discretionary  powers  were  lodged  with 
the  trustees,  local  school  authorities  or  the  Board  of  Education, 
every  interest  of  future  progress  would  be  served,  as  well  as  the 
obvious  present  need,  by  such  benefactions. 

(7)  Finally,  it  may  be  said  that,  since  the  schools  proposed 
would  receive  State  aid  for  their  maintenance,  subject  to  ap- 
proval by  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion and  those  representing  him  might  be  expected  to  render,  at 
all  stages  of  the  proceedings,  every  possible  assistance  to  any 
local  community  which  desired  to  establish  the  types  of  agricul- 
tural education  proposed  by  this  report. 


86 


IX. 

RECOMMENDATION   WITH    REGARD    TO    AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION  FOR  WORCESTER. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  chapter  108  of  the  Ke- 
solves  of  1910,  the  investigation  leading  to  this  report  consid- 
ered the  "  practicability  and  desirability  of  establishing  a  farm 
school  in  the  city  of  Worcester  in  which  instruction  may  be 
given,  free,  in  the  raising  of  fruits,  vegetables,  flowers,  grains, 
plants  and  trees,  and  in  the  care  of  domestic  animals,  and  in 
which  similar  instruction  suitable  to  their  years  may  be  given 
to  children." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  1905  Massachusetts  State 
census  showed  that  the  agricultural  produce  of  Worcester  County 
was  reported  as  $14,279,000,  and  of  the  city  of  Worcester  alone 
as  $1,491,000.  While  the  second  city  in  population,  Worces- 
ter ranked  first  of  the  cities  and  towns  in  the  value  of  its  agri- 
cultural products. 

The  farm  products  of  Worcester  are  widely  varied  and  are 
readily  marketed.  The  long  slopes  which  characterize  the  out- 
lying land  are  found  to  be  remarkably  favorable  for  fruit, 
particularly  for  apple  growing ;  dairy  and  poultry  products  hold 
a  strong  position ;  market  gardening  is  highly  promising. 

Worcester  has  two  important  and  very  active  organizations 
in  its  agricultural  and  horticultural  societies.  The  city  has 
made  a  most  commendable  beginning  in  trade  school  work, 
and  the  rounding  out  of  its  system  of  vocational  training  of 
secondary  grade  might  well  take  the  form  of  a  strong  separate 
agricultural  school.  The  resources  of  the  city  and  the  impor- 
tance of  its  farming  interests  would  fully  warrant  the  estab- 
lishment and  maintenance  of  such  a  school. 

It  is  believed  that  the  provisions  proposed  in  this  report  for 
meeting  the  needs  of  the  State  at  large  for  a  system  of  voca- 
tional agricultural  education  of  secondary  grade  would  meet 
the  requirements  of  Worcester,  and  that,  therefore,  special  leg- 
islation for  this  particular  city  should  not  be  herein  proposed. 


87 


X. 

AGRICULTURE  AS  A  PHASE   OF  LIBERAL  EDUCATION  IN 
THE   HIGH  SCHOOLS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

It  is  appropriate  that  something  should  be  said  in  this  report 
with  respect  to  the  study  of  agriculture  as  a  part  of  the  program 
of  the  so-called  liberal  education,  to  which  our  school  system 
has  been  for  the  most  part  devoted. 

There  is  an  active  movement  in  secondary  education  looking 
to  more  effective  organization  of  subject  matter  and  method  for 
the  purposes  of  liberal  or  cultural  education.  In  this  movement 
it  is  natural  that  many  persons  should  look  upon  agriculture  as 
a  promising  and  attractive  field  of  secondary  school  study, 
especially  for  rural  high  schools.  For  this  purpose  it  presents 
several  aspects. 

1.  Agricultural  Lands  and  People.  —  In  the  economic  life 
of  all  the  centuries,  agriculture  has  played  an  important  part. 
The  control  of  the  fertile  lands  in  the  great  valleys  and  plains 
has  made  and  unmade  nations.     Political  organization  has  in 
all  times  been  greatly  affected  by  the  ownership  of  land  and  by 
the  kind  of  agriculture  practiced. 

In  our  own  century  territorial  division  of  labor  plays  an 
important  part,  with  the  result  that  one  kind  of  farm  industry 
monopolizes  the  lower  half  of  the  Mississippi  valley;  another, 
the  warm  valleys  of  California;  another,  eastern  Asia  and  still 
another,  the  plains  of  Canada. 

To  the  student  of  the  play  of  social  forces,  the  distribution 
of  population  along  agricultural  lines  is  a  fascinating  theme. 
One  can  read  with  intense  interest  of  the  effects  of  occupations 
on  the  social  life  of  the  peoples  of  the  prairies  and  the  tropics, 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  great  steppes  of  Russia  and  of  the 
small  cultivators  of  France  and  Italy. 

2.  Agricultural  Science  and  Invention.  —  Especially  inter- 
esting as  themes  for  study  are  the  transitions  which  the  nine- 
teenth and  twentieth  centuries  have  brought  into  agriculture. 
The  inventions  of  science  and  the  evolution  of  machinery,  sub- 
stituting animal  strength  and  natural  forces  for  human  brawn 


and  sinew,  have  increased  agricultural  production,  have  ex- 
tended human  prosperity,  and  have  made  the  farm  a  field 
wherein  scientific  knowledge  finds  abundant  application. 

Many  a  scientist  has,  within  the  last  half-century,  enriched 
humanity  by  his  contributions  to  effective  farm  production. 
The  work  of  our  own  national  government  in  agricultural  re- 
search and  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  approved  methods  con- 
stitutes a  most  cheering  sign  of  governmental  activity. 

It  is  evident  that,  along  these  and  allied  lines,  it  is  possible 
to  build  up  a  field  of  study  which  as  a  part  of  liberal  educa- 
tion would  easily  rank  with  certain  subjects  now  taught  with 
great  effort  in  the  public  high  schools  of  rural  communities. 

3.  Science  Laboratory  Illustrations  from  Agriculture.  - 
Agriculture  must  increasingly  be  considered  as  a  field  of  applied 
science.  Physical  and  commercial  geography,  botany,  zoology, 
bacteriology,  physiology,  chemistry,  economics,  have  numerous 
important  applications  in  agriculture,  and  many  of  these  appli- 
cations are  so  concrete  and  simple  as  to  constitute  excellent  lab- 
oratory illustrations. 

It  is  not  strange  that  seekers  for  more  satisfactory  methods 
of  teaching  science  should  turn  preferably  to  agriculture  for 
suggestion  and  material.  It  has  become  more  and  more  evi- 
dent that  science  cannot  be  very  effectively  taught  to  secondary 
students  strictly  in  its  "  pure  "  form.  Children  of  the  adoles- 
cent stage  of  development  apparently  respond  more  satisfactorily 
to  that  science  teaching  which  begins  with  applications  and  con- 
crete cases,  and  then  merges  into  generalizations,  principles  and 
laws.  We  know  that  this  is  the  historic  order  in  the  evolution  of 
scientific  knowledge,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  in  the  main 
the  pedagogic  order  must  follow  the  historic  order. 

In  the  high  school  attempts  are  being  made  in  many  places  to 
organize  general  science  for  first  or  second  year  instruction. 
This  course  consists  in  some  instances  merely  of  topics  selected 
from  various  sciences;  in  others  it  is  based  on  subjects,  like 
physical  geography,  which  involve  principles  and  applications 
from  many  sciences. 

A  more  satisfactory  procedure,  in  the  view  of  many  educators, 
will  be  to  take  the  subject  of  agriculture,  abounding  in  direct 


89 

and  practical  applications  from  many  scientific  fields,  and  to 
organize  a  course  of  instruction  in  which  the  pupil  will  advance 
from  concrete  experience  to  an  appreciation  of  underlying  scien- 
tific principles,  and  also  at  every  step  become  cognizant  of  the 
real  significance  of  the  subject  in  promoting  personal  and  social 
well-being.  An  able  presentation  of  secondary  school  science 
of  this  kind  recently  appeared  from  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  (Experiment  Station  Eecord,  September, 
1910). 

The  unsatisfactory  results  not  infrequently  obtained  from  the 
study  of  abstract  mathematics  and  formalized  physics  seem 
to  justify  the  belief  that  agriculture  can  be  used  to  advantage 
as  a  means  of  approach  to  science,  in  a  scheme  for  liberal  edu- 
cation in  secondary  schools. 

4.  Agriculture  and  Wholesome  Living.  —  The  conception  of 
modern  liberal  education  involves  to  an  increasing  extent  a  study 
of  social  conditions  and  of  the  factors  that  make  for  wholesome 
personal  and  community  living. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  reaction  against  the  movement  to 
the  city,  and  students  of  social  economy  are  becoming  more  and 
more  convinced  that  the  development  of  sound  citizenship,  as 
well  as  of  sound  physique,  as  a  nation,  is  dependent  on  a  large 
agricultural  population. 

The  study  of  agriculture  as  a  field  of  human  activity  involves 
constant  reference  to  the  social  characteristics  of  rural  com- 
munities, and  to  the  means  for  the  better  development  of  desir- 
able pursuits.  One  important  question  relates  to  the  bearing 
on  physical  health  of  rural  life  and  its  occupations. 

5.  Agriculture  and  the  Educational  Values  of  Concrete  Ex- 
perience. —  Modern  education  is  developing  a  wider  and  better 
psychological  outlook.    Education  in  the  past  has  been  identified 
with  instruction  given  in  schools ;  and  school  training  has,  owing 
to  the  force  of  circumstances,  been  an  education  by  means  of 
books  and  writing,  modified  in  recent  years  by  more  or  less 
laboratory  experience.     Modern  pedagogy,  on  the  other  hand, 
maintains  that  academic  teaching  can  be  effective  only  as  it 
builds  on  a  basis  of  concrete  experience,  obtained  by  a  thorough 
contact  with  the  realities  of  life. 


90 

Before  the  development  of  modern  cities  and  the  resulting 
industrial  conditions,  a  large  majority  of  growing  boys  and  girls 
had  abundant  opportunity  to  share  in  productive  occupations,  to 
participate  in  the  natural  sports  of  childhood  and  to  acquire 
industrial  experience,  simply  through  contact  with  their  environ- 
ment. It  seems  to  be  biologically  true  that  this  basal  experience 
is  necessary,  as  antecedent  to  the  form  of  education  we  call 
academic. 

6.  Some  Agriculture  almost  Indispensable  to  Sound  Educa- 
tion. —  Manual  training  and  laboratory  work  in  science  have 
been  undertaken  partly  as  a  means  to  realize  this  experience. 
Both  are  necessarily  made  artificial  by  the  cramped  conditions 
under  which  they  must  be  conducted.     Agriculture  offers   a 
peculiar  opportunity  for  a  more  extended  and  satisfying  field, 
wherein  this  basal  experience  may  be  acquired. 

It  must  be  noted  that  this  argument  has  no  reference  to  voca- 
tional training.  In  fact,  it  might  be  urged  from  the  standpoint 
of  liberal  education  that  persons  destined  for  the  professions 
and  learned  callings  stand  in  greatest  need  in  their  earlier  years 
of  broad  experience  with  the  soil,  with  domestic  animals  and 
with  the  conditions  of  production  in  nature.  In  many  commu- 
nities a  certain  number  of  hours  per  week  devoted  to  agricultural 
production,  whether  in  school  gardening  or  in  the  more  complex 
farming  activities,  may  easily  be  regarded  as  an  almost  indis- 
pensable part  of  a  liberal  education,  when  one  takes  into  account 
the  conditions  involved  in  modern  life. 

7.  Agricultural  Text-books  for  Reading  Courses.  —  The  above 
considerations  serve  to  define  to  some  extent  the  part  which 
agriculture  may  play  in  a  system  of  liberal  education. 

In  hundreds  of  high  schools  of  the  United  States  descriptive 
courses  in  agriculture  are  now  offered.  They  are  based  on  many 
excellent  text-books  which  have  appeared,  and  the  instruction 
often  consists  mainly  in  guiding  the  reading  of  the  pupils,  if 
the  teacher  himself  be  interested  in  the  larger  economic  and 
scientific  aspects  of  modern  agriculture,  as  well  as  in  its  historic 
evolution,  he  can  make  the  subject  one  of  intense  interest,  even 
without  laboratory  demonstration  or  field  experience. 

Much  of  our  high  school  education  must  still  be  obtained  from 
text-books,  and  the  work  described  above  offers  surely  as  attrac- 


91 

tive  a  subject  of  study  as  ancient  history,  text-book  science  as 
sometimes  still  taught,  or  mathematics. 

8.  Agricultural  Manuals  for  Science  Laboratories.  —  Many 
schools  are  ambitious  to  go  farther,  and  in  a  somewhat  different 
direction.    They  prefer  not  to  treat  agriculture  in  its  broad  geo- 
graphical or  historic  aspects,  but  to  use  it  as  a  means  of  introduc- 
ing some  notions  of  science. 

Here,  again,  many  excellent  books  and  manuals  are  avail- 
able, and  the  opportunities  for  laboratory  illustration  may  be 
easily  supplied.  In  fact,  a.  most  valuable  line  of  experimenta- 
tion may  be  followed  with  the  scantiest  of  materials  and  equip- 
ment, such  as  a  farmer  might  often  possess.  The  skilled  and 
enthusiastic  teacher  is  able  in  this  way  to  make  agriculture  not 
only  a  means  of  general  culture,  but  a  most  valuable  means  of 
approach  to  the  more  abstract  sciences. 

9.  Agriculture  and  Enlarged  Educational  Opportunity.  —  A 
few  schools  have  gone  farther  still.     They  have,  by  individual 
or  joint  effort,  carried  out  certain  productive  enterprises  on  land 
in  their  possession.     They  have  engaged  in  gardening,  and  in 
some  instances  have  performed  experiments  with  certain  forms 
of  live  stock.     The  work  has  been  made  the  center  of  correla- 
tion for  manual  training,  commercial  arithmetic  and  science. 
The  social  significance  of  co-operative  effort  has  been  revealed, 
and  a  new  spirit  with  reference  to  country  life  evoked. 

This  work,  while  not  confessedly  industrial,  does  serve  a 
valuable  vocational  purpose,  in  that  it  gives  something  of  the 
ideal  and  outlook  which  ultimately  constitute  a  large  element  in 
vocational  success.  But  the  contributions  to  liberal  education 
of  the  schools  in  which  this  form  of  work  has  been  developed 
are  unmistakable.  The  widening  horizon  of  the  pupil,  his 
greater  sympathy  with  the  prosaic  occupations  of  life,  and  his 
growing  appreciation  of  the  possibilities  of  art  and  science  ap- 
plied in  every-day  callings,  tend  at  every  step  to  render  him 
a  person  of  power  and  to  add  to  his  possibilities  of  growth. 

There  are  educators  who  believe  that  such  a  reorganization 
of  the  program  of  liberal  education,  as  here  described,  whereby 
special  studies  and  practices  shall  lead  into  larger  local,  indus- 
trial and  social  activities,  constitutes  the  greatest  opportunity 


92 

of  the  future  for  our  schools.  Agriculture,  as  the  occupation  of 
half  the  American  population  and  an  important  portion  of  the 
people  of  Massachusetts,  is  an  especially  inviting  field. 

10.  Motives  of  Liberal  Education  now  Dominant.  —  The 
above  types  of  agricultural  education  are  all  controlled  by  the 
motives  dominant  in  liberal  education.  It  is  not  intended  that 
they  shall  be  determined  by  the  conditions  and  necessities  of 
vocational  education.  It  is  desirable  that,  when  the  ends  of 
liberal  education  are  being  sought,  only  incidental  consideration 
should  be  given  to  the  industrial  significance  of  the  means  em- 
ployed. Nevertheless,  it  must  be  apparent  that  all  the  above 
methods  of  instruction,  even  when  based  solely  on  the  text- 
book, have  some  influence  on  vocational  skill. 

Success  in  one's  calling  depends  on  something  more  than 
skill,  and  capacity  to  apply  science  and  art  to  productive  ends ; 
it  involves  social  outlook,  wider  sympathies  and  the  ideals  which 
actuate  life.  While  the  above  forms  of  education  cannot  be 
called  vocational,  they  nevertheless  should  contribute  ideals 
and  appreciation,  —  important  elements  in  the  success  of  those 
youths  who  ultimately  turn  to  agriculture  as  an  occupation. 

The  study  of  agriculture  above  described  should,  so  far  as 
State  encouragement  and  support  are  concerned,  stand  in  the 
same  position  as  the  study  of  foreign  languages,  history,  mathe- 
matics, science  and  all  subjects  traditionally  associated  with 
liberal  education.  It  should  not  be  aided  by  the  State,  as  though 
it  were  part  of  a  system  of  vocational  education. 


93 


XL 


AGRICULTURE  AS  A  PHASE   OF  LIBERAL  EDUCATION  IN 
THE  ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS   OF  MASSACHUSETTS.1 

PART  I. 

The  Present  Status. 

While  there  is  as  yet  no  systematic  or  general  recognition 
of  agriculture  in  the  program  of  the  elementary  public  schools 
of  the  State,  enough  has  been  done  in  teaching  this  subject  to 
show  that,  within  the  limits  of  the  capacity  of  the  children,  such 
instruction  is  entirely  practicable,  and  that  the  results  justify 
an  extension  of  this  kind  of  work.  Even  in  one-room  rural 
schools,  as  at  Hinsdale  and  Peru,  teachers  guided  and  directed 
by  capable  and  skillful  supervision  have  overcome  apparent 
limitations,  and  have  given  boys  ranging  from  twelve  to  four- 
teen years  of  age  a  knowledge  of  the  best  methods  and  actual 
practice  in  the  raising  of  certain  staple  vegetables.  An  example 
of  one  of  the  projects  that  has  been  found  most  feasible  and 
satisfactory  is  given  as  Part  II.  of  this  chapter. 

Some  Definite  Results. 

The  instruction  in  agriculture  in  the  elementary  schools 
has  led  to  a  general  use  of  the  leaflets  and  bulletins  issued  by 
the  United.  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  by  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  and  by  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College.  Not  only  do  the  boys  in  connection  with  their  school 
projects  read  with  interest  and  appreciation  these  bulletins, 
but  the  school  becomes  a  medium  through  which  such  informa- 
tion on  the  best  methods  of  culture  is  brought  into  the  com- 
munity itself.  Farmers  have  thus  become  acquainted  with 
approved  methods  of  cultivating  certain  crops,  and  use  such 
information  in  their  own  practice.  One  community,  for  ex- 
ample, has  learned  the  value  of  the  formalin  treatment  for 
scab  in  potatoes,  the  best  and  cheapest  combinations  for  ferti- 

1  Prepared  by  Deputy  Commissioner  Orr. 


94 

lizers,  and  the  use  of  the  Bordeaux  mixture  for  the  prevention 
of  potato  blight. 

Besides  these  economic  results,  an  increased  interest  in  and 
appreciation  of  the  school  have  been  developed  among  the 
people.  It  has  been  possible  to  introduce  in  such  rural  schools 
other  practical  projects  in  dressmaking  and  cooking,  in  which 
undertakings  the  girls  of  the  upper  grammar  grades  have 
shown  efficiency  and  ability.  In  these  and  other  ways  help- 
ful relations  have  been  established  between  the  school,  and  the 
arts  of  the  farm  and  home.  In  the  schools  where  such  exer- 
cises have  been  introduced  with  success,  it  has  been  found  that 
the  boys  acquire  added  interest  in  school  work  along  all  lines. 
The  direct  use  made  of  penmanship,  arithmetic,  composition, 
bookkeeping,  drawing  and  manual  training  has  resulted  in  an 
improved  quality  of  work  in  those  branches. 

The  Value  of  Elementary  Agriculture. 

Instruction  in  elementary  agriculture  in  the  upper  grammar 
grades  has  a  direct  value  in  itself,  because  it  contributes  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  farming  community  by  aiding  in  the  intro- 
duction of  improved  methods. 

Teachers,  by  means  of  such  courses,  have  been  able  to  in- 
crease the  interest  among  their  pupils  in  the  work  and  the 
activities  of  the  farm.  One  may  hope  that,  through  such  influ- 
ences, boys  may  be  induced  to  remain  in  the  country  districts ; 
but  sufficient  data  are  not  as  yet  at  hand  to  demonstrate  that 
elementary  agriculture  in  the  schools  accomplishes  such  a  result. 
It  will  be  agreed  that  it  is  highly  desirable  to  make  use  of  all 
possible  means  to  check  the  present  excessive  tendency  toward 
the  city. 

The  work  in  agriculture  in  a  rural  school  opens  up  a  way  for 
helpful  co-operation  between  the  school  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  home  and  the  farm  on  the  other.  One  of  the  best  oppor- 
tunities for  applying  the  teaching  of  the  school  is  when  a  boy 
secures  a  plot  of  land  in  the  home  garden  or  farm,  and  cultivates 
it  according  to  the  best  methods.  Such  an  undertaking  should 
be  carried  out  as  a  business  enterprise,  an  account  kept  of  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures,  and  a  statement  made  at  the  close  of 
the  season  which  shall  show  the  balance  of  profit  or  loss. 


95 

Courses  in  elementary  agriculture  furnish  a  preparation  for 
the  direct  vocational  work  in  schools  of  higher  grade.  Pupils 
who  have  carried  out  one  or  more  garden  enterprises  have  ac- 
quired some  knowledge  of  elementary  methods  in  farming,  and 
some  information  regarding  the  vegetable  raised,  soil,  weather 
conditions,  effects  of  fertilizer,  heat,  light  and  moisture.  They 
thus  come  to  the  more  advanced  work  with  a  large  body  of 
experience,  which  the  secondary  school  teacher  may  utilize  to 
advantage. 

Agencies  to  Promote  Elementary  Agriculture. 

1.  Nature  Study.  —  In  the  early  years  of  the  school  life  of 
the  pupil  he  is  led  to  observe  plant  and  animal  life,  and  gains 
a  considerable  body  of  experience  relating  to  the  phenomena 
of  weather,  soils  and  local  natural  history.     When  elementary 
instruction  in  agriculture  has  been  thoroughly  established  and 
systematized,   it  will  be  possible   to  direct   and  shape  nature 
study  so  as  to  give  it  more  definite  aims  and  purposes  than  at 
present,  and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  the  quality  in  that  study 
which  makes  for  appreciation  and  enjoyment  of  nature. 

2.  School  Gardens.  —  The  school  garden  is  winning  a  place 
in  the  public  schools  of  the  State.     Through  the  undertakings 
involved  in  gardening,  the  pupil  gains  experience,  knowledge 
and  skill  in  certain  processes  connected  with  farming.     It  is 
desirable  that  the  school-garden  work  should   be  so   directed 
as  to  give  the  pupil  a  definite  task,  in  accomplishing  which  he 
must  overcome  real  difficulties  in  the  soil,  learn  to  protect  his 
crop  against  insect  pests  and  against  untoward  weather  condi- 
tions, and  finally  secure  a  tangible  and  measurable  product. 
The  school  garden  may  thus  closely  approximate  actual  farm- 
ing conditions.     The  normal  schools  of  the  State,  particularly 
at  North  Adams  and  Hyannis,  are  giving  serious  attention  to 
school   gardening  of  this   character.      Use   is   being  made   in 
this  activity  of  the  motives  that  underlie  social  and  collective 
action,  while  opportunity  is  afforded  for  wholesome  rivalry  and 
for  desire  for  individual  excellence. 

3.  Potato  and  Corn  Clubs.  —  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Agricultural  College,  a  large  number  of  boys  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  State  have  been  organized  into  societies  for 


96 

raising  certain  staples  in  accordance  with  the  hest  scientific 
methods.  Under  the  leadership  and  direction  of  members  of 
the  faculty  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  a  wide- 
spread interest  in  agriculture  has  been  developed.  Seed  of 
approved  quality  is  distributed  to  the  members  of  these  clubs, 
and  full  directions  are  given  regarding  culture  and  harvesting. 
Exhibits  are  held  at  the  close  of  the  season  under  the  auspices 
of  local  granges  or  other  organizations.  Prizes  are  awarded 
for  the  best  results.  By  these  means  the  boys  are  stimulated, 
by  emulation  and  friendly  rivalry,  to  put  both  skill  and  in- 
dustry into  their  individual  undertakings.  Some  notable 
results  have  been  secured  through  this  movement,  in  the  culture 
of  both  corn  and  potatoes. 

4.  Summer  Courses.  —  The  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Col- 
lege, by  its  summer  courses  for  the  training  of  teachers,  by  its 
conferences  on  rural  conditions  and  by  the  travelling  school  of 
instruction,  in  which  use  is  made  of  the  train  and  trolley  ser- 
vice of  the  State,  is  doing  valuable  work  in  stimulating  an  in- 
terest in  farming  and  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  scientific 
method  among  teachers. 

5.  The  Work  of  the  Board  of  Education.  —  An  agent  of  the 
Board  of  Education  is  giving  a  large  part  of  his  time  and  atten- 
tion to  the  encouragement  and  direction  of  teachers  and  super- 
intendents  in   the   establishment   and   conduct   of   elementary 
work  in  agriculture.     Under  his  direction  a  manual  is  being 
prepared  which  gives  directions  for  carrying  out  a  number  of 
projects   in   agriculture.      This  publication  furnishes   detailed 
and  specific  instructions,  whereby  superintendents  and  teachers 
will  be  enabled  to  conduct  classes  in  the  different  projects  in- 
telligently and  effectively.     In  Part  II.  of  this  chapter  a  brief 
description  of  this  manual,  and  an  example  of  one  of  the  projects 
are  given. 

Provisions  for  Extension  and  Development. 
In  order  that  elementary  agriculture  in  the  grammar  grades 
may  be  carried  on  with  success,  it  is  necessary  that  teachers 
should  receive  some  training  for  the  work.  Such  preparation  may 
be  given  in  several  ways.  The  manual  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  should  enable  an  alert,  progressive  teacher, 


9? 

when  guided  by  her  superintendent,  to  carry  out  with  success 
certain  undertakings  in  agriculture.     The  normal  schools  and 
the  summer  school  at  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 
are  already  rendering  service  by  training  their  students  for  the 
work  which  falls  to  a  teacher  in  a  rural  school,  and  are  in  some 
instances  giving  direct  instruction  in  the  processes  of  farming. 
It  is   important   that   superintendents   who   are   in  charge   of 
schools  in  the  country  should  inform  themselves  on  elementary 
agriculture.     Guidance  and  help  from  the  superintendent  are 
important  factors  in  promoting  the  efficiency  of  a  teacher  in 
this  field  of  instruction.     It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Board 
of  Education  might  well  consider  the  question  of  securing  a 
grant  of  money  from  which  payments  might  be  made  to  the 
smaller  towns  in  order  that  the  salaries  of  teachers  who  are 
making  a  success  of  the  work  in  agriculture  and  in  other  prac- 
tical branches  might  be  increased.     Such  an  incentive  would 
encourage  capable  young  women  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
rural  schools,  and  to  continue  in  this  field  of  work  for  a  time. 
It  has  been  shown  by  experience  that  such  teachers  with  a  ca- 
pacity for  leadership,  not  only  improve  the  quality  of  the  school 
work,  but  also  exercise  a  most  helpful  influence  upon  the  com- 
munity life,  this  influence  being  shown  in  the  betterment  of 
economic  and  social  conditions. 

PART  II. 

Introduction. 

An  agent  of  the  Board  of  Education  is  preparing  a  manual 
for  the  instruction  of  teachers  in  the  work  of  elementary  ag- 
riculture. This  bulletin  is  entitled  "  Some  Agricultural  Pro-, 
jects  for  Elementary  Schools."  The  nature  of  the  work  is  best 
shown  by  a  brief  description  of  each  of  the  four  parts,  and  by 
an  example  of  one  of  the  projects. 

The  Divisions  of  the  Manual. 

Part  I.  The  Projects.  —  This  portion  of'  the  bulletin  gives 
full  and  specific  directions,  whereby  the  children  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  under  the  direction  of  teachers,  may  successfully 
raise  such  vegetables  as  potatoes,  tomatoes,  parsnips,  lettuce, 


98 

alfalfa  and  radishes.  In  all,  fourteen  such  undertakings  are 
described. 

Part  II.  Suggestions  for  Garden  Work.  —  One  finds  here 
full  directions  as  to  how  the  work  in  gardening  can  be  con- 
ducted to  best  advantage  in  an  elementary  school.  The  place 
of  such  work  in  the  program  is  described,  and  a  statement  is 
added  of  the  necessary  equipment  in  land,  tools,  measures, 
seeds,  fertilizers  and  reference  and  study  books. 

Part  III.  Laboratory  Work.  —  This  section  contains  de- 
tailed descriptions  of  twelve  experiments  relating  to  plants  and 
soil. 

Part  IV.  Collateral  Work.  —  Instruction  is  given  as  to 
the  ways  in  which  pupils  may  be  given  practice  in  the  writing 
of  letters,  in  the  keeping  of  diaries,  in  applying  arithmetic, 
drawing  and  manual  training  and  in  the  use  of  business  forms 
in  connection  with  the  work  of  elementary  agriculture.  Sug- 
gestions are  made  on  the  use  of  material,  afforded  by  elementary 
agriculture,  as  a  basis  for  composition  exercises.  Possible 
correlation  with  the  work  in  geography  and  in  science  is  also 
indicated. 

The  manual  on  agriculture  projects  should  do  much  in  pro- 
moting the  .practical  work  in  the  upper  grammar  grades,  be- 
cause it  puts  at  the  command  of  teachers  and  superintendents 
a  body  of  exercises  that  have  been  carefully  prepared  for  use 
under  usual  school  conditions. 

First  Project.  —  Potato. 

A  brief  summary  of  this  project  is  given  as  an  illustration 
of  the  method  of  treatment  used  in  the  manual. 

Preparation  of  the  Soil.  —  Advice  is  given  on  the  kinds  of 
soil  adapted  for  potato  culture.  The  proper  time  for  plowing 
and  the  methods  to  be  used  in  preparing  the  soil,  by  harrowing 
and  furrowing,  are  also  discussed.  Several  kinds  of  fertilizers 
are  described.  The  manual  points  out  ways  whereby  fertilizers 
may  be  obtained  at  smallest  expense  and  applied  in  the  field  to 
best  advantage. 

Seed,  Selection  and  Preparation.  —  The  standard  varieties 
of  seed  and  the  qualities  desired  in  potatoes  used  for  planting 


99 

are  described.  Other  topics  are:  the  use  of  the  formalin  solu- 
tion to  prevent  scab,  the  need  of  care  in  sprouting,  and  the  best 
ways  of  planting. 

Cultivation.  —  Under  this  head  instruction  is  given  on  hoe- 
ing and  hilling.  The  use  of  Paris  green  to  destroy  the  potato 
bug  and  spraying  with  the  Bordeaux  mixture  to  prevent  blight 
are  treated. 

Harvesting.  —  The  manual  tells  the  learner  when  and  how 
a  crop  is  harvested.  A  plan  for  estimating  the  number  of 
potatoes  yielded  by  the  field  and  a  form  for  a  report  on  the 
number  of  potatoes  in  each  hill  are  given.  A  list  of  books 
dealing  with  potato  culture  is  presented. 


100 


APPENDIX. 


(Unmmmtuttalilj  of 

In  the  Year  One  Thousand  Nine  Hundred  and  Eleven. 

AN    ACT   TO   CODIFY   AND   AMEND   LEGISLATION   RELATING   TO    STATE-AIDED 

VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

CONSTRUCTION. 

1  SECTION  1.     The  following  words  and  phrases  as  hereinafter  used 

2  in  this  act  shall,  unless  a  different  meaning  is  plainly  required  by 

3  the  context,  have  the  following  meanings :  — 

4  1.  "  Vocational  education  "  shall  mean  any  education  whose  con- 

5  trolling  purpose  is  to  fit  for  profitable  employment. 

6  2.  "  Industrial  education  "  shall  mean  that  form  of  vocational  edu- 

7  cation  which  fits  for  the  trades,  crafts  and  manufacturing  pursuits, 

8  including  the  occupations  of  girls  and  women  carried  on  in  work- 

9  shops. 

10  3.  "Agricultural  education"  shall  mean  that  form  of  vocational 

11  education  which  fits  for  the  occupations  connected  with  the  tillage 

12  of  the  soil,  the  care  of  domestic  animals,  forestry  and  other  wage- 

13  earning  or  productive  work  on  the  farm. 

14  4.  "  Household  arts  "  education  shall  mean   that  form   of  voca- 

15  tional    education    which    fits    for    occupations    connected    with    the 

16  household. 

17  5.  "  Independent  industrial,  agricultural  or  household  arts  school  " 

18  shall  mean  an  organization  of  courses,  pupils  and  teachers,  under  a 

19  distinctive  management  approved  by  the  board   of  education,   de- 

20  signed  to  give  either  industrial,  agricultural  or  household  arts  edu- 

21  cation  as  herein  defined. 

22  6.  "  Evening  class  "  in  an  industrial,  agricultural  or  household  arts 

23  school  shall  mean  a  class  giving  such  training  as  can  be  taken  by 

24  persons  already  employed  during  the  working  day,  and  which,  in 

25  order  to  be  called  vocational,  must  in  its  instruction  deal  with  the 

26  subject  matter  of  the  day  employment,   and  be  so   carried  on   as 

27  to  relate  to  the  day  employment. 

28  7.  "Part-time  (or  continuation)  class"  in  an  industrial,  agricul- 

29  tural  or  household  arts  school  shall  mean  a  vocational  class  for  per- 

30  sons  giving  a  portion  of  their  working  time  to  profitable  employment, 

31  and  receiving  in  the  part-time  school,  instruction  complementary  to 

32  the  practical  work  which  is  being  carried  on  in  such  employment. 


101 

33  To  give  "  a  portion  of  their  working  time  "  such  persons  must  give 

34  a  portion  of  each  day,  week  or  longer  period  to  such  part-time  class 

35  during  the  period  in  which  it  is  in  session. 

36  8.  "  Independent  agricultural  school  "  shall  mean  either  an  organi- 

37  zation  of  courses,  pupils  and  teachers,  under  a  distinctive  manage- 

38  inent  designed  to  give  agricultural  education,   as  hereinafter  pro- 

39  vided  for,  or  a  separate  agricultural  department,  offering  in  a  high 

40  school,  as  elective  work,  training  in  the  principles  and  practice  of 

41  agriculture  of  an  extent  and  character  approved  by  the  board  of 

42  education  as  vocational. 

43  9.  "Independent  household  arts  school"  shall  mean  a  vocational 

44  school  designed  to  develop  on  a  vocational  basis  the  capacity  for 

45  household  work,  such  as  the  callings  of  cookery,  household  service 
4G  and  other  occupations  in  the  household. 

STATE    ADMINISTRATION    AND    SUPERVISION. 

1  SECTION  2.    The  board  of  education  shall  be  charged  with  the  duty 

2  and  given  all  necessary  power  to  investigate  and  to  aid  in  the  intro- 

3  duction  of  industrial,  agricultural  and  household  arts  education;  to 

4  initiate    and    superintend    the    establishment    and    maintenance    of 

5  schools  for  the  aforesaid  forms  of  education;  and  to  supervise  and 

6  approve  such  schools,  as  hereinafter  provided.     The  board  of  edu- 

7  cation  shall  make  a  report  annually  to  the  legislature,  describing 

8  the  condition  and  progress  of  industrial,  agricultural  and  household 

9  arts  education  during  the  year,  and  making  such  recommendations 
10  as  such  board  may  deem  advisable. 

TYPES  OP  SCHOOLS. 

1  SECTION  3.     In  order  that  instruction  in  the  principles  and  the 

2  practice  of  the  arts  may  go  on  together,   independent  industrial, 

3  agricultural  and  household  arts  schools  may  offer  instruction  in  day, 

4  part-time  and  evening  classes.    Attendance  upon  such  day  or  part- 

5  time  classes  shall  be  restricted  to  those  over  fourteen  and  under 

6  twenty-five  years  of  age;  and  upon  such  evening  classes,  to  those 

7  over  seventeen  years  of  age. 

LOCAL   ADMINISTRATION    AND    CONTROL. 

1  SECTION  4.    Any  city  or  town  may,  through  its  school  committee 

2  or  through  a  board  of  trustees  elected  by  the  city  or  town  to  serve 

3  for  a  period  of  not  to  exceed  five  years,  to  be  known  as  the  local 

4  board  of  trustees  for  vocational  education,  establish  and  maintain 

5  independent  industrial,  agricultural  and  household  arts  schools. 

1  SECTION  5.    1.  Districts  composed  of  cities  or  towns,  or  cities  and 

2  towns,  may,  through  a  board  of  trustees  to  be  known  as  the  district 


102 

3  board  of  trustees  for  vocational  education,  establish  and  maintain 

4  independent  industrial,  agricultural  or  household  arts  schools.     Such 

5  district  board  of  trustees  may  consist  of  the  chairman  and  two  other 

6  members  of  the  school  committee  of  each  of  such  cities  and  towns, 

7  to  be  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  each  of  the  respective  school  com- 

8  mittees   thereof;   or   any  such   city  or  town  may  elect  three   resi- 

9  dents  thereof  to  serve  as  its  representatives  on  such  district  board 

10  of  trustees. 

11  2.  Such  a  district  board  of  trustees  for  vocational  education  may 

12  adopt  for  a  period  of  one  year  or  more  a  plan  of  organization, 

13  administration  and  support  for  such  schools.     Such  a  plan,  if  ap- 

14  proved  by  the  board  of  education,  shall  constitute  a  binding  contract 

15  between  the  cities  or  towns  which  are,  through  the  action  of  their 

16  respective  representatives  on  such  a  district  board  of  trustees,  made 

17  parties  thereto,  and  shall  not  be  altered  or  annulled  except  by  vote 

18  of  two-thirds  of  the  entire  district  board  of  trustees  and  the  consent 

19  of  the  board  of  education  to  such  alteration  or  annulment. 

1  SECTION  6.     Local  and  district  boards  of  trustees  for  vocational 

2  education,  administering  approved  industrial,  agricultural  or  house- 

3  hold  arts  schools,  shall,  under  a  scheme  to  be  approved  by  the  board 

4  of  education,  appoint  an  advisory  committee  composed  of  members 

5  representing  local  trades,  industries  and  occupations.    It  shall  be  the 

6  duty  of  such  advisory  committees  to  counsel  with  and  advise  such 

7  local  or  district  boards  of  trustees  and  other  school  officials  having 

8  the  management  and  supervision  of  such  schools. 

NON-RESIDENT   PUPILS. 

1  SECTION  7.    1.  Any  resident  of  any  city  or  town  in  Massachusetts 

2  which  does  not  maintain  an  approved  independent  industrial,  agri- 

3  cultural  or  household  arts  school,  offering  the  type  of  training  which 

4  he  desires,  may  make  application  for  admission  to  such  a  school 

5  maintained  by  another  city  or  town.    The  board  of  education,  whose 

6  decision  shall  be  final,  may  approve  or  disapprove  such  application. 

7  In  making  such  a  decision  the  board  of  education  shall  take  into 

8  consideration:  the  opportunities  for  free  vocational  training  in  the 

9  community  in  which  the  applicant  resides;  the  financial  status  of 

10  the  community;  the  age,  sex,  preparation,   aptitude  and  previous 

11  record  of  the  applicant;  and  all  other  relevant  circumstances. 

12  2.  The  city  or  town  in  which  the  child  resides,  whose  application 

13  for  admission  to  an  approved  independent  industrial,  agricultural 

14  or  household  arts  school  maintained  by  another  city  or  town  has  been 

15  approved,  shall  pay  such  tuition  fee  as  may  be  fixed  by  the  board 

16  of  education;  and  the  commonwealth  shall  reimburse  such  a  city  or 

17  town,  as  provided  for  in  this  act.     If  any  city  or  town  neglects  or 


103 

18  refuses  to  pay  for  such  tuition,  it  shall  be  liable  therefor  in  an  action 

19  of  contract  to  the  city  or  town,  or  cities  and  towns,  maintaining  the 

20  school   which    the   pupil,    with   the    approval    of   the    said   board, 

21  attended. 

REIMBURSEMENT. 

1  SECTION  8.     Independent  industrial,   agricultural  and  household 

2  arts  schools  shall,  as  long  as  they  are  approved  by  the  board  of 

3  education  as  to  organization,  control,  location,  equipment,  courses 

4  of  study,  qualifications  of  teachers,  methods  of  instruction,  conditions 

5  of  admission,  employment   of  pupils  and  expenditures  of  money, 

6  constitute  approved  local  or  district  independent  vocational  schools. 

7  Cities  and  towns  maintaining  such  approved  local  or  district  inde- 

8  pendent  vocational  schools  shall  receive  reimbursement  as  provided 

9  for  in  sections  nine  and  ten  of  this  act. 

1  SECTION  9.     1.  The  commonwealth,  in  order  to  aid  in  the  mainte- 

2  nance  of  approved  local  or  district  independent  industrial  and  house- 

3  hold  arts  schools  and  of  independent  agricultural  schools  consisting 

4  of  other  than  agricultural  departments  in  high  schools,  shall,  as  pro- 

5  vided  for  in  this  act,  pay  annually  from  the  treasury  to  cities  and 

0  towns  maintaining  such  schools  an  amount  equal  to  one-half  the  sum 
7  to  be  known  as  the  net  maintenance  sum.    Such  net  maintenance  sum 
S  shall  consist  of  the  total  sum  raised  by  local  taxation  and  expended 
9  for  the  maintenance  of  such  a  school,  less  the  amount,  for  the  same 

10  period,  of  tuition  claims,  paid  or  unpaid,  and  receipts  from  the  work 

11  of  pupils  or  the  sale  of  products. 

12  2.  Cities  and  towns  maintaining  approved  local  or  district  inde- 

13  pendent  agricultural  schools  consisting  only  of  agricultural  depart- 

14  ments  in  high  schools  shall  be  reimbursed  by  the  commonwealth,  as 

15  provided ,  for  in  this  act,  only  to  the  extent  of  two-thirds  of  the 

16  salary  paid  to  the  instructors  in  such  agricultural  departments :  pro- 

17  vided,  that  the  total  amount  of  money  expended  by  the  common- 

18  wealth  in  the  reimbursement  of  such  cities  and  towns  for  the  salaries 

19  of  such  instructors  for  any  given  year  shall  not  exceed  ten  thousand 

20  dollars. 

21  3.  Cities  and  towns  that  have  paid  claims  for  tuition  in  approved 

22  local  or  district  independent  vocational  schools  shall  be  reimbursed 

23  by  the  commonwealth,  as  provided  for  in  this  act,  to  the  extent  of 

24  one-half  the  sum  expended  by  such  cities  and  towns  in  payment  of 

25  such  claims. 

1  SECTION  10.    On  or  before  the  first  Wednesday  of  January  of  each 

2  year  the  board  of  education  shall  present  to  the  legislature  a  state- 

3  ment  of  the  amount  expended  previous  to  the  preceding  first  day 

4  of  December  by  cities  and  towns  in  the  maintenance  of  approved 


104 

5  local  or  district  independent  vocational  schools,  or  in  payment  of 

6  claims  for  tuition  in  such  schools,  for  Avhich  such  cities  and  towns 

7  should  receive  reimbursement,  as  provided  for  in  this  act.     On  the 

8  basis  of  such  a  statement  the  legislature  may  make  an  appropriation 

9  for  the  reimbursement  of  such  cities  and  towns  up  to  such  first  day 
10  of  December. 

ACTS  AND  PARTS  OF  ACTS  REPEALED. 

1  SECTION  11.     1.  Sections  one  to  six  inclusive  of  chapter  five  hun- 

2  dred  and  five  of  the  acts  of  nineteen  hundred  and  six,  sections  one  to 

3  four  inclusive  of  chapter  five  hundred  and  seventy-two  of  the  acts  of 

4  nineteen  hundred  and  eight,  chapter  five  hundred  and  forty  of  the 

5  acts  of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  and  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts 

6  inconsistent  herewith,  are  hereby  repealed. 

7  2.  Schools,  heretofore  established  under  the  acts  and  parts  of  acts 

8  repealed  by  this  section,  and  approved  by  the  board  of  education, 

9  shall  continue  in  operation  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  for 
10  such  schools. 


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